Crimes of the Heart
by Unicorn Rampant
Summary: AangxKatara, ZukoxOC, SokkaxSuki...When the companions at last reach the Earth Kingdom, Katara is captured by the scheming General Zhao. In an attempt to rescue her, her friend Jade ends up on Prince Zhuko's ship, and soon finds herself struggling to save
1. Envy

"Land ahoy!"

Katara's eyes unwilling forced themselves open, then shut again against the brilliant brightness of the sun. She groaned and sat up in her sleeping skin, rubbing the grit out of them, and forced them to open once again. It took a moment for them to focus, and she looked in the direction that the voice had come from. Her brother had had the morning watch, and it was his gleeful voice that she had heard.

"Sokka?" she said questioningly, her voice cracking from sleepiness. She cleared her throat and then peered at the giant bison's head, where her brother and now Aang were both leaping around and whooping for joy like a bunch of fools. They _were_ a bunch of fools.

She moaned again, not quite being able to comprehend what their behavior meant in her tired state. She shifted in her sleeping bag, turning to face the sleeping girl in the skin next to her. Jade's breathing was deep and even, meaning that she was still fast asleep. Katara wished that she herself were, and then smiled, thinking about how good it was to have her friend with her. Though she loved her brother and Aang, she had been lonesome for female company, and hadn't really realized it until she had been reunited with Jade upon their arrival in the North Pole. She and Jade had been childhood friends, and had been nearly inseparable until the men of the village had gone off to fight the Fire Nation. Afterwards, Jade's mother had taken her away on a long journey to the North Pole, where she believed that they would be safe until the war ended and Jade's father returned.

Jade's mother had been killed in the Fire Nation's recent siege against the North Pole, leaving Jade in nearly the same position as Katara: without a mother, and not knowing where on earth her father was, if he was even still alive. Unlike Katara, however, Jade was an only child, now not having any family left in the world, not even the comfort of a brother that Sokka provided for Katara. She had been more than eager to accept when Katara had suggested that she come along with them on their journey, since there was nothing left for her in the North Pole. Though she had never spoken of it, Katara knew that there was another incentive for Jade being desperate to leave: she had been engaged to the son of one of the councilman. Her mother and the young man's father had arranged it, even though the boy was several years Jade's senior. Katara had met Reid, and though he had been ruggedly handsome and strong, there was something about him that she just didn't like. She suspected that Jade had had those same fears, and that was why she had been all too ready to leave the North Pole, without even telling anyone where she was going.

The two girls had stayed up late into the night talking, making Katara all the more aware of how glad she was to have the company of her old friend. Jade was fourteen, the same age as her, and upon being reunited they had been able to pick up their relationship almost exactly where it had left off, as if they hadn't been separated for the past three years. Jade was a waterbender, though not nearly as advanced in her skill as Katara was. She didn't need to be, Katara thought with the slightest twinge of jealousy. Jade was gorgeous, probably the most beautiful girl Katara had ever encountered, though a strength of their friendship was Jade's modesty and Katara's ability not to let her jealousy show. Even so, Katara couldn't help but feel a ripple of envy as she watched the breeze blow a tendril of Jade's pin-straight, fiery red hair across her face. If her dazzling green eyes had been open, Katara knew that she would have seen a flash of annoyance in them as Jade tried to trap the strand of hair behind her ear. She was always complaining about it, even though it was the loveliest hair Katara had ever seen, and seemed so much more manageable than her own curly dark hair that she always wore in a braid.

It wasn't just her hair and breathtaking eyes that made Jade beautiful, though those were certainly enough. Her face was enough to make even the most beautiful of girls consider wearing a mask, for shame of their own features that could never measure up. Katara could certainly see how Jade's mother had managed to secure a marriage for her daughter with one of the most eligible bachelors and promising young men of the North Pole. Her body was desirable in nearly every way as well. Whereas Katara was tall and statuesque, an inch or two taller than Jade at least, and had not a spare ounce of fat on her fit, trim young body, Jade was softer, curvier, more feminine. Her breasts, though she never openly displayed them, made Katara blush with shame when she looked down at her own nearly-flat chest, which was not particularly small in comparison to other young ladies her age, but when compared to Jade's seemed as nonexistent as Aang's.

But even though she couldn't help but feel envious at times, Katara was not about to let the green-eyed monster of jealousy ruin their newly acclaimed friendship. It helped that Jade never ever made her feel inferior, and was so modest about her looks that sometimes Katara honestly didn't think Jade knew how stunning she really was. Last night while they had talked Jade had taken Katara's long, curly hair out of the braid and brushed it, admiring its thickness and texture. "You're so lucky to have such curly hair," she had said with a wistful smile, holding up a coiled strand. "I wish mine would do this."

"Your hair is so beautiful. I would do anything if mine would be that straight," Katara had protested.

Jade shook her head. "Your hair says something about you," she said. "When men see perfectly straight hair, that falls which ever way the woman wishes it to, they think she is meek, humble, easy to control, as is her hair. When they see a curly mane such as yours, they know you are fierce and spirited, unbridled and free. I can't tell you how many men have tried to take advantage of me in the North Pole, simply because of the shape of my hair."

Though they were the same age, and she had been to many more places and seen many more things than Jade had, Katara still sensed the wisdom and maturity that was reflected in her voice. For the first time she thought that maybe Jade's simple life in the North Pole had not been all peaches and cream, as she had originally thought, and that perhaps being beautiful had not been a gift for Jade, but in fact a heavy burden. Katara herself had been considered a beautiful child back in her water tribe in the South Pole, but thankfully it hadn't brought her unwanted attention from the boys, both honorable and lewd. She was also grateful that her grandmother, who had mostly raised her and Sokka since their father left, had never gotten it into her head to arrange a marriage for her granddaughter, though Katara had been about the right age to be married off when she had left and she was sure that several men had inquired as to the hand of the only waterbender in their tribe. The fact that she was good-looking had probably not hurt their interest.

Still, being beautiful could not be all bad. Katara had seen the way both Sokka and Aang's eyes had nearly popped out of their heads when she had introduced them to Jade. Few boys had ever looked at Katara that way, and certainly not Aang. Not that Katara wanted him to. She supposed it was better this way. If he was interested in Jade, and she in him, as she appeared to mildly be, she certainly didn't want to interfere. Katara knew that Sokka was still too broken-hearted over having to leave Suki to be interested in anyone else yet, even if he had been smitten to silence by Jade upon laying eyes on her.

"Katara! Get up here now!" bellowed Sokka, cutting into her thoughts.

Katara dragged herself out of her sleeping skin, shivering against the cool early morning air. Though they were out of the Arctic region now, here it was winter and it was still frigid, if not numbingly cold the way it had been in the North Pole. Her white cotton nightdress managed to keep her somewhat warm as she made her way up Appa's furry back and onto his head.

"What's all this monkey-behavior about?" she groaned as she stood beside Aang.

Before either of the two boys could speak, however, her blue eyes focused on something in the distance. They widened in shock, and then turned moist with joy. Amidst the fog she could see the sturdy brown clay walls that towered up into the sky, twice as high as even the tallest trees, nearly as tall as the mountains that bordered them.

The Earth Kingdom.

In a split second an ear-splitting scream joined the boys' whoops and catcalls. Katara engulfed both Aang and Sokka in an enormous hug. The walls blurred as tears of joy streamed down her cheeks. How far and long they had traveled, and how she had thought they would never see those walls. Yet here they were. It was almost too good to be true, too unbelievable to be real.

Their noise had woken Jade up, and she came trudging atop Appa's giant furry head. When she saw the walls in the distance, her bright green eyes came awake. A scream similar to Katara's echoed over the vast expanse of the ocean. Though Jade had never been to the Earth Kingdom and had never seen the walls as Katara, Sokka, and Aang had, she had heard enough about it to know that they at last had reached their destination, and they would finally be able to be on land, in one place, for more than a day. She and Katara embraced each other tightly, and then Jade in turn hugged both Sokka and Aang. Katara could not help but notice that Aang's cheeks turned faintly pink when Jade squeezed him to her, and for an instant her mood turned dark. But then she brightened. Nothing could spoil this day.

"We'll probably be there in less than an hour," said Sokka. "Do you girls… um… want to get dressed?"

Jade and Katara both blushed when they realized that they had been standing there next to the boys in their nightgowns. Though Sokka had certainly seen Katara in her nightgown before, Aang had not, and neither boy had ever seen Jade so exposed. The two girls hurried away to Appa's rear, where their sleeping skins were and where they both had their knapsacks of stuff.

"Can you believe this?" squealed Katara. "We're finally there! I never thought my eyes would be so happy to see clay and mountains."

Jade grinned from ear to ear. "Do you think they'll welcome us?" Suddenly her brow creased with worry. "Katara. They won't attack us, will they?"

"Of course not," Katara scoffed. "Aang is good friends with the Earth King, King Bumi. He may seem strange to you at first, but he would never attack us."

Relief was apparent in Jade's eyes. Suddenly a sly smile came to her face. "Do you want me to help you get ready?"

"Ready?" said Katara in a puzzled way as she undid her braid. With difficulty she yanked a comb through her thick mane and then began to re-braid it. "Ready for what?"

"To enter the Earth Kingdom, of course!" said Jade. She sighed in exasperation as she placed a hand on Katara's arm to stop her from braiding her hair. "Leave your hair down, would you. It's so lovely."

"No," said Katara, turning faintly pink.

"What is the issue with you and your hair? You always wear it in a braid. I bet Aang and Sokka don't even know what it really looks like."

"It's better that way. Where I come from, in the Northern Water Tribe, it was considered extremely improper for a woman's hair to be down. Only –" and here her face turned a vivid red –"scarlet women wear their hair loose."

"Well, we aren't in the Northern Water Tribe anymore," said Jade matter-of-factly. When Katara began to braid her hair again, she gave another exasperated sigh. "Are you seriously telling me that you're going to make your grand entrance in the Earth Kingdom with your hair in a braid and in your same old robes?"

Katara hadn't really thought about it. She hadn't really considered this a special occasion, and had been planning on wearing what she wore every day: one of her faded blue water tribe robes and her old sealskin boots. Now that Jade mentioned it, however, did she really want to have the Earth Kingdom residents' first impression being of her in a bunch of old tattered robes and worn boots?

She sifted through her pack. There wasn't much, save for a bone knife, a set of earrings, an extra nightgown, a spare pair of boots and leggings, and several sets of blue water tribe robes. Then as she dumped everything out, she found it: the soft bundle wrapped in muskrat fur.

She slowly unfolded the bundle and let it gently fall out: her mother's gown, the one she had worn at her wedding to Katara's father. It was a simple gown, not at all lavish or gaudy, but simple and elegant. Katara had taken it upon leaving her village, and she had never worn it before, as she had been saving it for a special occasion. According to Jade this certainly qualified as one…

Standing up and checking to make sure that the boys were occupied and not watching, Katara quickly shrugged her nightgown up over her head, her bare skin shivering against the chilly air. She pulled on the white leggings and bodice that went with the gown, and then slipped on the gown itself. It had long sleeves that came to nearly her fingers, and a wide square neckline that showed plenty of bare skin. Upon seeing this Katara almost removed the gown, but Jade stopped her. "It's beautiful," she breathed. "It was your mother's, wasn't it?"

"Yes," whispered Katara. The waist was gently cinched, and the dress then flowed out in the gentle wind, nearly covering Katara's feet. It was a bit too long; her mother had been several inches taller than her, but its extra length wasn't unflattering in the least. It wasn't blue, as most of the garments the waterbenders wore were, but rather the color of deep red wine. It complemented her tan skin and dark hair, and made her blue eyes appear brighter.

"It's perfect," said Jade, clapping her hands. "Absolutely perfect! Now, what about your hair? I know you don't want to leave it loose, but could you let me do it?"

Katara reluctantly agreed, and sat still as Jade tore a comb through her curly locks. She twisted and piled it up into an elegant knot on top of Katara's head, trapping it with several pins and clips. She left several curly tendrils hanging down, and these gently framed Katara's face. "You look stunning," she said when she was finished. "Those earthbender boys won't be able to take their eyes off you."

Katara had a good laugh at that, and then slipped on her old boots. The gown was long enough that it would cover them, and besides, she didn't really have anything else. She glanced at herself in Jade's mirror as Jade pulled on a golden yellow gown that was simple like Katara's, yet just as refined and tasteful. She left her perfect red hair down, and it flowed to her waist. Katara tried to ignore her jealousy as she stared at herself in the mirror. It was amazing how much a simple hairstyle could change the look of her face. Though she still wasn't as gorgeous as Jade, she knew that she had never looked so beautiful.

By the time the girls were finished getting ready, Appa had already begun to gradually spiral downwards towards the huge gates. Jade and Katara climbed up onto his head next to the boys to watch their descent.

Both boys' jaws dropped upon seeing the two girls. Katara instantly felt self-conscious, and put a hand up to cover the bare skin on her chest. Jade, however, didn't act embarrassed in the least and behaved as if she didn't even notice, though she must have felt the boys' eyes boring into her.

Sokka was the first to recover. "Well, ah," he said nervously. "Why are you girls so, um, dressed –"

Suddenly his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Isn't that Mom's wedding dress?" he countered.

"Yes. Mom used to let me try it on all the time," Katara said defensively. "Before we left, Gran Gran gave it to me, in case I were to find a, um, well, a –"

"A what?" said Sokka impatiently. "Spit it out!"

Katara felt her cheeks redden. "A husband," she finished quietly.

Sokka let out a hearty laugh. "A husband," he hooted. "Imagine Katara finding a husband in the Earth Kingdom!"

Katara's eyes narrowed in anger at her brother. "Is it so hard to believe that someone might see me and want me for his wife?" she nearly shouted at him. The sea below started to churn dangerously.

"Well, now that you've changed out of those old robes, I guess not," said Sokka, his laughter dying out. "But no sister of mine will marry a dirty earthbender. You'll marry a respectable water tribe man who knows the proper way to throw a boomerang."

Was it just Katara's imagination, or did Aang really look as if his heart had just fallen out of his chest and settled somewhere around his knees? A moment later his crushed expression was gone, and he looked completely normal, if not slightly amused at the latest squabble between the siblings.

"As if I needed you to find me a husband," scoffed Katara. "I'm perfectly capable of choosing the right man for myself."

"It sure didn't look that way to me when we camped with those Fire Nation rebels," shot back Sokka. "If your idea of a respectable husband is someone like Jet-"

Katara's face turned purple with rage, but before she could strangle her brother, Appa landed gently on the hard-packed soil at the foot of the Earth Kingdom gates. Her anger at her brother and humiliation over Jet was forgotten as she linked arms with Jade and jumped off the huge bison. Jade squealed like a little girl, and Katara squeezed her arm in excitement. At that moment she wasn't thinking about finding a husband so much as sleeping in a warm, soft bed tonight and eating a hot meal.

Four guards stood posted at the gates, young men who looked to be around Sokka's age. They were dressed in the traditional earthy brown and cream-colored uniforms of the Earth Kingdom, and they each held a tall pike that was sharpened to a deadly point.

When the guards saw Aang, they didn't move to block them. Instead, each of them raised their pikes in the air and then made a sweeping motion that was so fast it was like a blur before Katara's eyes. The two massive clay gates swung open as easily as if they were made of paper instead of heavy earth.

The four companions, plus Appa and Momo, began to shuffle through the gates, with Aang leading the way. Sokka, Katara, Momo, and Appa passed through behind him without a second glance to the guards. When Jade, with her eyes still wide from the earthbending trick she had witnessed, made to follow them, the four guards stepped forward as one and lowered their pikes before her, barring the way.

"Jade!" said Katara. Jade's green eyes were now wide with fear, though Katara could tell that her friend was trying to be brave. Katara ran back and attempted to seize the pike of the guard closest to her. "Let her go! She's my friend!"

"This one was not with you when you passed through our gates the last time," said the guard whose pike she had in an icy voice.

Aang hurried over. "This is Jade, our friend from the Northern Water Tribe. She'll be accompanying me in to see King Bumi."

The guard glanced over Jade, his eyes lingering on her breasts a moment longer than they should have. Jade didn't seem to notice and continued to look at Katara helplessly.

At long last the guard decided that an attractive young girl traveling with the Avatar wouldn't pose any threat to the Earth Kingdom, and he gave the signal for the men to raise their pikes. Katara sighed with relief as Jade bounded forward and latched on to her again nervously. As they passed through the gates, Katara happened to make eye contact with one of the guards, a young handsome man that couldn't have been much older than Sokka. He winked at her. Her cheeks turned fiery red as she quickly looked away and hurried after Aang and Sokka.

The streets of the Earth Kingdom were busy with activity, like a hive of bees. Vendors and their stalls lined the main roads, trying to persuade pedestrians to buy their products. Children ran over the earthen roads, swiping food from the stalls, giggling as the vendors shouted obscenities at them. People bustled in and out of shops, some carrying armloads of purchases, some coming out empty-handed. Young men who happened to pass by them gave them suggestive looks, which sent both Jade and Katara into fits of blushing giggles. Sokka sighed at them disgustedly, but didn't pause to stop and study the dancing girls on the street corner with the bare midriffs. Both girls and Aang had a good laugh at that, and Katara slapped her brother lightly on the arm when he tossed a silver coin at them. "What?" said Sokka, turning red. "They were talented."

Katara and Jade couldn't help themselves when they passed by a ladies' shop selling nothing but dresses and jewelry. They dragged the boys inside, drawing raised eyebrows from the other customers and small smiles from the shopkeepers, and oohhed and aahhed as they admired fine silks and furs. Katara wistfully fingered a ruby and pearl necklace at the jewelry counter, thinking how exotic it looked compared to the plain blue stone she wore around her neck. She loved her mother's necklace and wore it always, but couldn't help but wish for something finer that matched her gown.

"Would you like to try it on?" asked the elderly female shopkeeper, coming up behind Katara.

"Hmm?" replied Katara absently. "Oh, the necklace? No, I couldn't possibly afford it, it's not really my style…"

But the shopkeeper had already removed the necklace from its display case and clasped it around Katara's slender neck. Katara gasped as she looked at herself in the mirror. The necklace wasn't long, dangling only to her collarbone, and the gems winked and sparkled in the sunlight that filled the shop. The rubies accented the red tones in her dark hair, and the pearls looked so milky white against her suntanned skin.

"A beautiful girl like you deserves to treat herself to jewels every once in a while," said the shopkeeper.

Katara suddenly became aware of Aang, who was standing a few feet away from her, staring at her as if he had never seen her before. She blushed and moved to unclasp the necklace, but the shopkeeper stopped her.

"Perhaps your boyfriend here could afford to buy it for you, no?" she said, her eyes twinkling.

If her cheeks had been red before, they were now bright scarlet. "Oh, no! Aang's not my boyfriend, we're just –"

"We'll take it," Aang cut her off. "How much?"

The woman grinned slyly and named an outrageous price that Katara would have never agreed to pay. But Aang willingly went up to the counter and produced the required number of gold tokens. Katara couldn't keep her mouth from falling open.

"Aang!" she gasped when he had finished his business with the shopkeeper. "Where did you get that much money?"

Aang beamed at her. "The chief of the Northern Water Tribe gave me a huge sack when we left. Apparently it was payment for driving away the Fire Nation and restoring the moon spirit." He grinned and gestured to the window. "I was saving it for a rainy day."

Katara ignored the fact that sunlight was streaming in through the open window. She threw her arms around him and hugged him. "Thank you," she said sincerely. "You have no idea how much I wanted that."

"I could see it in your eyes. Here," he said, handing her the necklace. She turned around so that he could clasp it around her neck. The feel of his fingers at the back of her neck sent shivers up and down her spine. She hoped he couldn't see the raised gooseflesh on her neck and shoulders.

A few minutes later, Jade paid for two silken gowns and a pair of satin slippers, and then the companions set out again. By the time they reached the Earth Palace, Katara's feet felt numb, and a painful blister had bubbled and burst on her heel. She bit her lip against the pain and trudged on, fingering her new ruby necklace to give her the strength to continue. She was exhausted, so exhausted that she wasn't even sure that she was awake.

The sight of the magnificent Earth Palace shook her awake, however. Even though she had been here once before, Katara still could not help but admire the huge, sweeping mounds of earth that made up King Bumi's palace. It was huge, so enormous that every single one of the houses in her water tribe village would have fit just on the first story. And the palace was thirteen stories high.

"How does the King manage to not get lost in there?" Jade managed to shut her gaping mouth closed long enough to whisper.

Katara grinned and shrugged. The last time they had been here, they had not had time to explore and tour the entire palace. Now that they were here for a vacation, with all the time in the world, she planned on familiarizing herself with more of the palace, particularly the spa that she knew was on the fifth story.

Instead of a legion of servants, as there had been the last time, King Bumi himself was there to greet them. The giant, grizzled old man gave a mighty roar when he caught sight of the companions, and with the speed of a man a quarter of his age he raced forward and scopped Aang up in his arms. The old man gave him a crushing hug, tears of happiness filling his eyes.

"My old friend," said Bumi in that strange voice of his. "I received your message, but feared that you wouldn't make it. Fire Nation troops occupy all the lands bordering the Earth Kingdom. Only our walls so far have kept them out. That, and the courage of our warriors."

"We weren't bothered by the Fire Nation at all," replied Aang. "And you read my message? What do you say, Bumi? I would be greatly honored to learn the art of earthbending from 'the most powerful earthbender in the entire Earth Kingdom,'" he said, grinning as he quoted the words Bumi had said to him during their last visit.

"And I would be honored to teach you, my friend," said Bumi, beaming. "But not today. You and your friends are weary, and are in need of rest and food. My servants will show you to your quarters, and I'll have this giant walking carpet of a beast brought to the royal stables and fed. Tonight we will have a grand banquet to celebrate the arrival of the Avatar, and tomorrow your lessons will begin. In the meantime," he continued, "your friends are free to roam my palace and kingdom at will." He nodded and shook hands with Sokka, and then his gaze focused on Katara. "My, but this can't be Miss Katara," he said in surprise.

Katara smiled at him and offered her hand. He kissed it graciously. "The last time you were here, I was too busy freezing you in carbon crystal to have a proper look at you. You're a beautiful young lady. My great-grandsons will be pleased to meet you."

"Great-grandsons?" said Aang in surprise.

"Yes. Oni and Ulic. Twins, about the age of Mister Sokka here. Come to think of it, Ming and Cori, my great-granddaughters, will be all too eager to meet Aang and Sokka. I'll introduce you at the banquet." He turned to Jade next. "And who is this stunning young creature? I don't remember her from your last visit."

"I am Jade of the Northern Water Tribe," Jade said politely, extending her hand. Though she stood tall and held her head high, the way of a water tribe woman, Katara could detect the slightest nervous tremble in her voice.

King Bumi kissed her hand lightly. "You and Miss Katara would like separate rooms?"

"No," Jade said quickly. "We'd like to share one." Katara nodded and smiled in agreement. It would be fun to stay up late into the night, talking about the things they had seen and the people they had met. Like old times."

King Bumi snapped his fingers. A legion of servants appeared quickly, as if materializing out of nowhere.

"Please show Miss Katara and Miss Jade to the lavender room," commanded the King, "and carry up their belongings. I will show Sokka and Aang to their rooms."

At this point Katara could barely keep her eyes opened, and her feet dragged across the ground as she followed the servants into the magnificent palace, with Jade following closely behind her. She could barely lift her head to gaze at her surroundings, at the servants bustling in and out of rooms, at the earthen walls decorated with costly paintings and elegant tapestries. Her feet shuffled across the plush fur carpets, and for an instant she had to resist the urge to take her boots off and bury her feet in the soft fur.

The servants stopped before a lavender earthen door, and one of them produced a golden key. She slipped it into the gold lock and gently turned it. There was a soft click, and then the servant made a fist. The door swung open, and she led the two exhausted girls inside.

Katara gasped. She was in a cloud of light purple. The clay walls were painted a soft purple, and the floor was piled high with lush white rabbit's fur that had been dyed lavender. The walls were decorated with paintings of flowers and animals in soft colors, and the far wall was nearly completely gone, opening up onto a balcony that overlooked the entire kingdom. Lavender silken curtains could be drawn against the archway for privacy, and they billowed gently in the light breeze.

Against the eastern wall were two enormous beds, covered with silken lavender bedcovers and piled high with goosefeather pillows stuffed in shiny gold cloth. Katara let out a wistful sigh. As soon as the servants left she was going to curl up and…

"May I show you ladies the wardrobes?" a servant asked timidly. When Katara nodded, she moved towards the earthen wardrobe that rested against the western wall and made a sweeping motion with her hand. The doors flung open, and the servant smiled and gestured for the girls to look inside.

Katara gasped when she peered inside the wardrobe and saw its contents. Dresses, dozens and dozens of dresses, dangled upon wooden hangers. They were of all different styles and colors, some short, some long, some with dangling, flowing sleeves, some without any sleeves at all. Katara reached out and took one of these off the hangers, a beautiful yellow and blue piece of satin material that looked as if it would come to about her knees. She wondered how it stayed up without shoulder straps, and held it absently against herself.

"Would the lady like to wear this one to the banquet tonight?" questioned the servant with a kind smile.

"Hmm?" said Katara. "Oh, dear, goodness, no, I couldn't wear something like that." As beautiful as the dress was, and as exotic as it seemed, she couldn't wear something as revealing as that.

"Perhaps this one would be more to your liking?" suggested the servant, plunging her hand in among the dresses and at last pulling out a silken garment that made Katara clap her hands together with delight. This dress was slightly shorter than the first one, with sleeves that looked as if they would come to just past her shoulders. It was a beautiful, brilliant gold color, mixed with reds and maroons and violets. The maid moved it slightly, and it sparkled in the sunlight. The only thing that worried Katara was the plunging circular neckline. It wouldn't be low enough to show cleavage, but it would still come pretty close. She decided not to worry about it for now, and grinned at the maid. The old woman smiled and nodded. "I'll send it upstairs to be pressed, and the waist will probably have to be altered slightly. The last one to wear this was Lady Cori, two years ago, and I believe she was a bit bigger than you even then."

Katara beamed and nodded, too speechless with delight for words. The dress was the most beautiful piece of clothing she had ever seen, and all she could think about was what Aang would say when he saw her in it.

She flopped down on one of the beds as Jade sifted through dresses, trying to find one that was to her liking. She asked Katara's opinion on first this magenta one, then that short-sleeved green one. She tried on the yellow and blue number that Katara had rejected, and then finally chose that one. Katara had to admit that it looked beautiful on her. It showed off her creamy, flawless shoulders, and it outlined her breasts, thought not in a many that would be considered like a scarlet woman. Katara could easily imagine Jade getting several marriage proposals tonight.

She couldn't keep her eyes open any longer. She leaned her head back, letting it sink into the heavenly goosefeather pillows, and fell into a deep, long-awaited sleep.

"It can't possibly be taking them this long to get ready," grumbled Sokka. "It took us less than thirty minutes, and that's including a bath."

"Relax," said Aang good-naturedly. "You're just being sore because you want to eat."

"Exactly! Which none of us can do until the girls get here!" said Sokka, throwing up his arms. Aang grinned and shook his head. He had to admit that the long tables piled high with every kind of food imaginable did look rather tempting. But it was a strict rule of protocol that no one could begin eating until the royal family had arrived and made their grand entrance. Katara and Jade would be arriving with them.

They were crowded into the grand hall, where all formal celebrations were held, with thousands of people. It looked as if the entire Earth Kingdom population was present. Even the peasants, who wore threadbare hand-me-down gowns that looked as if they had been patched over a couple times, were there, laughing and joking and shooting longing gazes at those of higher birth. The more noble young ladies, who were dressed in finer silks and jewels, were staring wistfully at Sokka, who had been introduced along with Aang a few minutes ago as the highly-esteemed guests of the King. Several of them had already come up to Aang, and laughed and giggled and engaged him in conversation. He had been polite and friendly towards him, feeling more than a little flattered but trying not to let it get to his head, as it had on their trip to Kyoshi Island. He knew that it was just because he was a close friend of the King's, and the girls probably assumed that he was rich and single and here to find a wife. He didn't tell any of them that his heart had already been stolen, and that there were none of them here who could even compare to the thief.

At long last the trumpet sounded, signaling the arrival of the royal family. Aang turned to watch King Bumi descend first down the winding staircase and then stroll across the long red carpet that stretched the entire length of the hall. The people made a path for him, standing on either sides of the carpet, and then bowed to their King as he paused at the foot of the stairs before continuing down the hall.

King Bumi's family followed suit. There must have been a hundred of them, his two sons who were old men, probably well into their eighties, and his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Aang recognized Ming and Cori, Bumi's two great-granddaughters, as they paused and curtsied. They were twins, and were both perfectly lovely girls, with shining straight black hair that fell to their waists and matching periwinkle blue gowns. After them followed Oni and Ulic, the two great-grandsons, who were also twins. They were handsome individuals, and drew swooning looks from the young ladies as they paused and bowed.

"And last but not least," announced the trumpeter. "May I please introduce to you our two lovely young guests of His Majesty King Bumi, all the way from the North Pole. Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to Lady Jade and Lady Katara!"

The crowd erupted into wild applause. When the cheers died down, Jade descended down the elegant staircase. There were gasps from the crowd, particularly from the young men. No one had expected King Bumi's guest to be so beautiful, and Aang had to admit that Jade looked stunning. Her long, poker-straight red hair spilled down to her bare, creamy pale shoulders like red wine, with an emerald hairpiece holding it back from her green eyes. Aang could hear Sokka catch his breath, and he knew that at the moment all thoughts of Suki had faded from his mind.

Jade paused at the foot of the stairs and dropped a curtsy, and the crowd bowed to her, as they had to each member of the royal family. Almost immediately after she had begun to stroll off down the carpet, one of Bumi's great-grandsons came and offered her his arm. Jade smiled politely and accepted, linking her arm through his and allowing him to guide her to the end of the hall.

Suddenly the crowd grew hushed as Katara began to lightly step down the stairs. Aang's eyes darted eagerly to the staircase. Nearly every single man around him let out a long, low whistle.

For the third time that day, Aang's mouth dropped open.

Katara stood tall and proud, her shoulders squared, her head held high, not displaying even the slightest bit of nervousness. She stepped as lightly as if she were the same mass as a feather, and had such an air of grace and dignity about her that for a moment Aang didn't recognize her. But yes, it was her. There were those sparkling, ice blue eyes, framed by long dark lashes that seemed to be neverending, that swept over the grand hall with intelligent curiosity. She was wearing a magnificent gold dress that was tinted with hues of red and violet. It dipped gently off her shoulders, and the circular neckline was low, but not immodest. Around her neck was the ruby necklace that Aang had bought for her, and on her feet were soft buckskin sandals. The dress was short, exposing her long, deeply tanned and toned legs that any woman would be proud to possess. Aang had never seen her legs before, nor did he think he would ever be able to erase the image from his mind.

He had never seen her hair down before, either, and he felt as if he were looking at something else, a portrait of Katara, and the real Katara was standing next to him, in her faded blue water tribe robes and with her hair in its usual braid.

This was the real Katara. He could tell when her intense blue eyes rested on him, and she gave a small smile that showed her perfect teeth. When she looked away, Aang's focus went back to her hair. It was long and dark, coming to partway down her back, and he was surprised at how curly it was. A small garnet clip held it away from her face, making her blue eyes look even brighter.

When she reached the foot of the stairs, Katara stopped and dropped a deep curtsy. The crowd of people seemed smitten with her, and could only bow and then stare transfixedly as Katara continued down the carpet.

As she neared the end, Bumi's second great-grandson appeared and offered her his arm. Katara smiled politely and gave him a respectful bow of her head before accepting his arm. Aang could see the young man's eyes gleaming as he strutted down the hall with the beautiful young girl clutching his arm, and suddenly he had to suppress the urge to let a sphere of air slam into the boy's stomach.

The festivities began, and suddenly the hall roared with the noise of chatter and laughter. Guests moved to the center of the great room to dance, and Aang found himself being dragged to the dance floor by one of Bumi's great-granddaughters, Ming or Cori he could not tell. He didn't object, and put his arms around the girl robotically as he scanned the floor for Katara.

There she was, dancing with Bumi's great-grandson, a beaming smile on her face. She tilted her head back and laughed at something he said, a sound as light and clear as the chime of bells. Aang had to fight off the tsunami wave of jealousy that threatened to engulf him. He turned back to Cori / Ming and plastered a bright smile on his face.

The dance number finished, and Aang gave a polite bow to his partner before searching the crowd for Katara. He saw her a few feet away, and the power of his gaze drew her eyes to him. He looked at her questioningly, and she grinned and started to make her way through the mob towards him.

Before she reached him, however, a smiling young man with a thatch of curly yellow hair atop his head stepped in her path and bowed. Above the sounds of talking and giggling Aang couldn't tell what he was saying, but by the way Katara took the man's hand and then smiled at him apologetically, he knew that she had just agreed to dance with him. He felt as if he had just been drenched in cold water and then placed outside in freezing Arctic wind.

"Dance with me, Aang?" came a sweet, questioning voice.

Aang turned around to face Jade. For a moment all thoughts of Katara melted away, and he forgot his own name. Those green eyes, those long red lashes, that creamy skin…

"Of course," he said, grinning as he led her to the dance floor. When he put his hand on her curvaceous waist, he felt as if a horde of butterflies had taken up residence in his stomach.

But then Katara glided past him, in the arms of the yellow-haired man, and he forgot that he was dancing with the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. All he could think about was that he was not with Katara. He saw the two girls exchange a friendly grin, and then Jade pointed to her nose and made a face. Both girls burst into peals of silent laughter. Jade shook in his arms with mirth as they waltzed away from Katara and her partner.

"What was that all about?" questioned Aang.

"Hmm?" said Jade. "Oh, that? When we ate lunch after our nap, Katara got some pea paste on her nose, and she walked around until we had our baths with a spot of green on the tip of it. Neither of us noticed, and we were wondering why all of the servants were looking at her so oddly."

Aang smiled at the thought of Katara walking around with a green nose. Somehow, he could picture it exactly in his mind.

The dance number ended, and Aang bowed to Jade. Just as he turned to look for Katara, he saw her a few feet away, nodding and smiling and taking the arm of yet another young man.

"Dance with me?" said a girl's voice, pulling on his sleeve, and Aang turned around to see a tall, gawky girl with teeth that reminded him of those of a rabbit grasping his arm.

Aang sighed. It was going to be a long night.


	2. No Turning Back

Katara was having the time of her life. She could barely catch her breath after each dance number before yet another charming young man approached her and requested a dance. Men were giving her the sort of looks that they had always given Jade, and never her.

She could tell that Jade and Sokka were having fun, too. Girls were fawning all over Sokka, and he was just eating it up. Her brother was a handsome man, that much she knew from the countless times her girlfriends had begged to sleep over so that they could have a chance to see Sokka without a shirt on. Jade, too, was receiving quite a bit of attention from the opposite sex, and was surrounded by so many bodies that Katara couldn't tell where one man ended and another one began.

The only thing that wasn't going quite right was Aang. Katara had barely seen him all night, and she had not danced with him once. She supposed that it was partly her fault, since she didn't have the heart to turn down the eager young men that begged for the next dance. But still, he could have at least made an effort as well. She could see him now, dancing with Jade for what must have been the fourth time tonight, with an easy smile on his face.

Katara managed to bore a path through the crowd to the refreshment table, where she found Sokka sipping a goblet of red wine and telling whopping tales to the gaggle of girls that encircled him. With a smile, she shook her head and accepted a goblet of wine from a servant, and savored the way the cool liquid drizzled down her parched throat.

Sokka noticed her and managed to tear himself away from the girls. He sauntered up to her with a wide grin. "Having fun?" he said in a voice that was slightly slurred, and Katara was tempted to snatch the goblet away from him.

Katara nodded. "I'm so thirsty. I've been dancing nearly all night!"

"Well, you look beautiful," Sokka complimented her. "I haven't really seen Aang at all. Did you dance with him?"

"No," Katara admitted, not willing to say anything more.

Sokka looked shocked. "Well, there he is now. Go ask him."

Katara saw where Sokka was pointing. Her brow furrowed when she saw that he was still pressed up against Jade. "I don't want to interrupt him and Jade," she said lightly.

"Interrupt him and – wait a minute," said Sokka, looking confused.

"Oh, come on, Sokka. Even you can't be daft enough to not see how much they like each other," said Katara, struggling to keep her tone neutral. "And I don't want to spoil that for Jade. She hasn't had an easy time of it when it comes to boys."

"You've got it all wrong –" Sokka began, but before he could finish, another horde of giggling girls surrounded him and began pulling on his shirtsleeves, begging to see his muscles. Sokka grinned and obliged with mock exasperation, forgetting about his sister and what he had been about to say.

Katara sighed and accepted another goblet of wine, draining that one in a few sips. Goodness, was she thirsty. Her goblet was immediately refilled, and she gulped it down, relishing the cool, bubbling sweetness.

The room was beginning to appear a bit hazy before her eyes. It was deathly hot. Beads of sweat rolled down Katara's forehead as she tried to fan herself with her hand. She downed a fourth goblet of wine and then decided that a bit of fresh air would do her good. She found it difficult to peer around the hall for the door, and had trouble focusing her eyes on it and walking in a straight path. Her arms trembled as she struggled to push the heavy door open, and a servant quickly came forward to assist her. She gave him a wavering smile of thanks and then trudged unsteadily outside, past the great walls, to the edge of the sea.

She kicked off her sandals and dug her toes into the cool, moist sand, letting the gentle, foamy waves roll over her feet and ankles. The calm sea and the gentle breeze seemed to make her regain her senses. She had no right to be jealous of Jade. Aang wasn't hers to claim, and she knew that she should be happy for her friend that she had found that special someone.

She plopped down in the sand, letting the waves wash over her, in her fragile state not caring that her gown was getting soaked. On impulse she stood up, and then, laughing drunkenly, she careened forward into the sea, diving under the waves and feeling her mass of hair swirl around her like seagrass. She opened her eyes under the water, ignoring the sting of the salt water and staring off into the dark blackness.

She came up for air, and found herself facing a dark, hulking object. It was huge, so large that she had to strain her neck upward to see the top, and it took her a moment to realize that it was a ship.

Her fuzzy mind didn't comprehend that she should swim away until it was too late. A net came tumbling down from the ship, entangling her in a knotted mess. She clawed at the strings, tried to scream, tried to break free, but couldn't think through the cloud of panic that fogged her mind. She felt herself being pulled up out of the water, still entwined in the net, and suddenly she was looking into the eyes of a huge, burly man with a short, pointed black beard. She recognized him from somewhere, but her mind refused to work and tell her where.

In a last, desperate attempt, Katara made a fist and thrust it towards her captor. A jet of salt water streamed out of the sea and splattered in the man's eyes. He howled at the stinging and dropped her, digging his fingers into his eyelids and furiously rubbing his eyeballs. Katara stood up and tried to run in what she thought was the direction of the edge of the ship, in order to jump off and swim back to the Earth Kingdom. She tripped and fell, smacking her head against the wooden planking.

In that instant, she knew no more.

Aang turned his head hopefully at the sound of approaching footsteps. His spirits brightened when he saw Sokka returning with a guard, then sank again when he saw the forlorn expression on his friend's face. Aang groaned and cupped his face in his hands.

"We've looked up and down the entire beach," said Sokka. The young water tribe man looked exhausted, with dark rings of purplish-gray shadowing under his eyes. Aang was sure that he and Jade looked the same way. None of them had gotten any sleep since discovering that Katara was gone.

"That's it, then," said Aang with a heavy sigh. "She must have been captured by a Fire Nation ship. The servant said that the last place he saw her was the beach."

A tear trickled down Jade's cheek as she tried to stifle a gasp of horror. "We have to find her," she said with a small sniffle.

"Not to worry," said King Bumi, who was standing beside Aang with an arm around his shoulder. "I'll assemble my troops. We have a few ships of our own, and in a few days we'll be ready to go after those Fire Nation bastards and rescue Miss Katara."

Sokka shook his head, rubbing his eyes at the same time. "We don't have a few days. They're using Katara as bait, trying to get her to tell them where Aang is. She'll never tell them, and then they'll kill her. If we don't get there soon, she'll be lost."

"We have to go after her with Appa," said Aang. "Find the ship. One of us will somehow sneak on and free her."

"I will," said Jade.

"No," said Sokka. "You won't know what to do, Jade. Aang and I both have more experience in this sort of thing."

"I'm going after her!" Jade shouted, and now tears were streaming down her face. "You have no idea what we've been through – what she had to go through to save me – what they did to her…"

"What?" said Aang. "Who? Who did what to her?"

Jade's face had a haunted expression. "Back when I still lived in the South Pole - after the men left – the day the Fire Nation came…" her voice trailed off, as if she couldn't bear the horror of what she was saying.

"Jade, don't," said Sokka, looking as if it were extremely painful for him to remember this as well. "Aang doesn't need to hear this."

"Yes, I do!" insisted Aang. "Jade, tell me."

But Jade seemed to have snapped out of her trance. "Katara risked her life for me, and very nearly lost it. There's no way I'm leaving her to these Fire Nation dolts, and the least I can do is be brave enough to rescue her myself."

Sokka nodded, understanding her need to do this. "Let's go," he said. "How soon can Appa be ready, Aang?"

"I see it!" cried Jade.

Aang shifted Appa's reins to his left hand and turned to where Jade was pointing. Sokka had already leaped across the bison's shaggy body and was scanning the ocean eagerly.

Jade patted Momo, who was resting on her shoulder. She stared down below at the hulking dark mass that bobbed in the gentle waves. From way up here the ship looked so tiny, but she knew from having seen them during the invasion that several water tribe houses could fit on one deck. Her heart ached when she thought of Katara alone with those brutish Fire Nation pigs. Who knew what they were doing to her, if she was hurt, or maybe even dead already.

Sokka's brow furrowed. "We have to get close enough so that Jade can jump off and get on the ship, but at the same time we can't be seen. At least it's dark out." He yawned and stretched his arms in exhaustion. They had been searching since morning without rest or sleep, and in all of them it was becoming apparent. Jade refused to let her exhaustion get the better of her, allowing adrenaline and the fear of what she was about to do envelope her and be her fuel.

Aang shook Appa's reins and then tugged them to his right knee. The giant bison began spiraling downwards in the direction of the ship.

"Hold your breath!" Aang called back to them. Jade's chest expanded with a large gulp of air as she gripped Appa's shaggy fur. The bison plummeted straight down into the icy water.

When they surfaced nearly the ship, Jade spluttered with cold and gasped for air, the bison's drenched fur sticking up in tufts where she had been holding it in her clenched fists. Appa was directly next to the ship, and he began to gently float upwards, stopping when his head was exactly level with the railings on the side of the ship. An inch higher and the guards standing on the northern deck would have been able to see him above the edge of the ship.

"There's only two of them on deck," a dripping Sokka whispered to Aang and Jade. "Jade and I will sneak on board and take them out. Jade, then you quickly go inside. Tell anyone you see that you are one of the captain's whores, and that he has just finished with you and has sent you to bring the new prisoner to him so that he can rape her. He will most likely lead you to Katara, and then you can free her and try to get away. We'll be waiting here."

"Do we even know whose ship this is?" Aang hissed.

"No," admitted Sokka, "but it's probably either Admiral Zhao's or Prince Zuko's. Either way, it's the closest one we've seen to the Earth Kingdom, and therefore probably the one that took Katara."

Jade trembled at the thought of what she was about to do. This was by far the most dangerous task she had ever set out to complete, and the closest she had ever been to a Fire Nation ship. These were the ones that had killed her mother, and most likely her father. She bristled at the memory, anger strengthening her resolve and forcing down her fear.

Sokka squeezed her hand, "Ready?" he said softly.

Jade took a deep breath and nodded. She counted to three under her breath, and then without hesitation sprang up and leaped onto the ship. The two guards spun around and raised their pikes, but before they could shout a warning or send forth a wisp of flame Sokka had sent his boomerang into the throat of one. Jade ran forward as fast as her legs could carry her, her eyes seeing nothing but the guard in front of her. He sent a blast of fire at her, which she barely managed to avoid by doing a somersault forward. She wished desperately that she had Katara's waterbending skills, and could summon the waves of the sea below. But she had to make do with what she had, which at that moment was a knife. She buried it deep into the gut of the guard, feeling his warm blood against her hands, and then used the impact of his falling body to heave him over the side of the ship.

Sokka had disposed of the other guard, and he gave her a high-five. "Nicely done," he said with a grin. "I'm impressed."

Aang gave a sharp whistle, and Sokka stepped back over the railing and onto Appa's head. "Be careful," he said to Jade. "Get Katara and come back here as quick as you can. Oh, and here." He handed her a handkerchief, which she used to wipe the blood off her hands.

Jade climbed onto Appa and embraced them both. Tears of apprehension and anxiety began to well up in her eyes, but she fought them back before the boys could see. "Don't worry about me," she said. "And if I'm not back before morning, promise you'll leave and go get help from Bumi."

"We will," Sokka promised. Aang looked as if he were about to protest. A sharp, dangerous look from Jade made him smile weakly. "Get her back for me," he whispered in her ear.

Jade gave him a look of understanding and then hugged him again.

"Oh, and tell my sister," said Sokka carelessly, "that this is what she gets for getting drunk. And that next time we attend a banquet I'm going to request that they don't serve alcohol."

Jade grinned at him. "I'll be sure to deliver the message, Sokka."

She took a deep breath, and then stepped back over the railing and entered the cabin of the ship.

Water.

That was the first thing that popped into Katara's mind as she painfully opened her sore, swollen eyes. Her tongue felt like a dry, rough sponge as she ran it over her cracked lips. She was lying down on a hard, uncomfortable surface, and her vision was hazy. Her eyes focused more clearly, and she struggled to remember what had happened.

She had the worst headache that she had ever experienced, and she felt as if she would vomit were there any morsels of food in her stomach. She briefly remembered drinking the five goblets of wine at the banquet, and knew that this was a hangover. Sokka had described it to her, but she had never imagined that it would be this bad. She silently vowed never to drink alcohol again.

Now to decide where she was. She recalled going past the walls and diving into the sea. That was why her eyes must be so sore – she had gotten them soaked in salt water. But how had she wound up – here?

Where was here?

"Where am I?" she croaked, and winced at the sound of her own voice, which sounded similar to fingernails scraping along glass.

She felt a cool, damp cloth sponge her forehead, which temporarily eased the pain. A face leaned over hers, looking at her with concern. There was something very familiar about that face.

"Admiral Zhao's ship," said the voice that belonged to the face. "You were captured last night, and you've been out cold ever since."

Katara would have screamed in horror and anguish if her voice had worked. Tenatively she reached her hand up to her head and felt the large, tender lump that was crusted with dry blood. She remembered tripping and falling and hitting her head while – running from someone? But who? Admiral Zhao?

Admiral Zhao. She couldn't be here. He had captured her as bait to use for Aang. Aang would come for her, and Zhao would capture him and take him to the Fire Lord. She couldn't allow that to happen.

Katara sat up, and then wished she hadn't as she pitched forward and began to dry heave. Her stomach was empty of anything to throw up, except for a bit of bile that splashed on the rough wooden planks of the ship's floor, and after a few moments her gasping and choking stopped.

"Relax," said the voice, and the cool cloth came up to her forehead again. "You need rest."

"I need to get out of here!" Katara cried in a raspy voice. "I can't be here! He's going to kill Aang!" She tried to get up and run, but her legs trembled and wouldn't work. And that was when she noticed the shackle around her ankle and the chain that extended to the wall.

"I'm a prisoner," she whispered in horror to herself, slumping back against the wall.

"We all are," said the voice.

Katara looked around her, and for the first time noticed the five other girls besides herself chained to the wall. They were in a dungeon of some sort, and the girls were all around her age, with shackles around their ankles. And they were all naked save for two triangles of cloth tied around their breasts and a breachcloth of gold material cinched around their waists.

Katara looked down at her own body, and recoiled in horror when she saw that she was wearing the same thing. She moaned and shut her eyes, praying that this was all a bad dream.

"Try to calm down, Katara."

That voice. It was so familiar. Katara's head snapped around.

"Suki?" she cried. "Suki!" She flung her arms around her old friend from Kyoshi Island. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her cheeks onto Suki's shoulder. "You're his prisoner as well? What about the other warriors?"

"Our island was invaded again shortly after you left," said Suki. "Admiral Zhao captured all the young girls, and slayed the men and old women. Most of the warriors were taken prisoner, and I have not seen them since."

Katara stared at her old friend. She remembered Suki as being a strong, fiercely proud, beautiful young lady who made up for her lack of height with spunk and courage. She had been deadly in the battle Katara had witnessed between Kyoshi and the Fire Nation troops sent to capture Aang. Though she was an inch or two shorter, and as slim and slender as a willow tree, Katara would not have wanted Suki as an enemy, and was glad instead, especially now, to have her for a friend.

To see what she had been reduced to brought Katara to tears again. Suki's long, lush blond mane had been cut short, and it was only after seeing this that Katara noticed the absence of her own curly mass. She reached up her hand and gasped. Her once waist-length curls had been chopped off, so that they didn't quite reach her shoulders now. She almost started to cry again, but was too exhausted.

"Don't cry," Suki warned her. "It's bad to draw attention. He'll come for you eventually, but for now it's best if you delay it as long as possible."

"Who?" rasped Katara. "Who's coming for me?"

"Admiral Zhao," spoke up one of the other girls, a pretty brunette chained up in the corner. "He comes for all of us at least once a day."

"It could be worse," said another one. "We could be the whores in the next room, that all of the crew have access to. At least with us it's only the Admiral that gets to have his pleasures."

Katara had to fight to keep from screaming. Admiral Zhao was coming to rape her. "We have to get out of here!" she cried.

"We can't. There's no way," said Suki in a defeated manner. "Believe me, I've tried."

She turned around, and Katara saw the ugly, raw pink burn marks across her back. She shuddered and slumped back to the floor. Her head came to rest against Suki's hard, flat bare stomach as more tears leaked out.

"He wants to know where Aang is," she whispered, her voice high with panic. "I can't tell him. I never will. But the things he'll do to me…"

Suki stroked her hair. "It will be hard," she said. "You've probably never experienced pain, never had a man touch you against your will…"

Katara sat up like a bullet fired from a cannon. "That's not true!" she cried. "You don't know the half of it! You don't know what those pigs did to me… the day the troops came…"

The door to the dungeon suddenly swung open, and four guards stepped in. Katara stopped talking abruptly and looked up at them, the blood draining from her face.

The guards savored the scantily-clad girls hungrily, and then one of them pointed at Katara. "You! Admiral Zhao wishes to see you."

Katara clutched Suki's arm. "No!" she whispered. "Please, Suki! Don't let them take me!"

Tears streamed down Suki's cheeks. "I'm sorry, Katara. You have no idea how much I wish you didn't have to go through this."

The guard that had spoken leaned down and unlocked Katara's shackle with a key. To have that dead weight off her ankle felt incredible, as if her leg were made of air. Katara's glee was short-lived, however, as the soldiers grabbed her and roughly dragged her out of the room, not missing a chance to brush her breasts or bare stomach with their hands. She didn't struggle, didn't fight back, knew that it would be useless and that her only chance was to remain strong. For Aang.

The soldiers dragged her through multiple corriders and halls, up dozens of staircases, scraping her bruised and battered body along the wooden floor. "I can walk!" she spat at them.

The soldiers laughed. "Not you," one of them chortled. "The Admiral gave strict orders that we were to keep a firm hold on you. And firm it shall be." He reached forward to squeeze her breast. She opened her mouth and sank her teeth into the rough, grimy flesh of his hand, biting as hard as she could. Only when she tasted his warm, salty blood did she release his hand.

The guard gave a cry of pain, and then a bellow of rage. He cuffed Katara across the face, so hard that she fell and skidded across the floor. Hot blood gushed out of her lip, and the rough wodden floor splintered and scarped her bare flesh. She watched as her blood spilled and pooled on the ground under her leg, sickened at the sight of the dark red liquid.

"What is the meaning of this?" said a deep, masculine voice that Katara knew all too well.

Admiral Zhao.

Katara looked up at him, her blue eyes meeting his black with hatred and rage so intense that he took a step back. He recovered and gave her a self-assured grin. "So it's the waterbender that's causing so much trouble. The Avatar's companion. You're a mighty pretty thing. I'd have never thought the Avatar could afford such expensive whores."

Katara leaped to her feet, ignoring the white-hot pain in her leg, and lashed out. With a pump of her fist she sent a torpedo of blood spiraling for the Admiral's eyes.

Zhao evaporated the blood with a lick of fire. "I didn't expect you to be so powerful. You are about the equal of a master."

When Katara didn't respond, he turned to the men. "Bring her into my quarters."

Katara didn't fight when the men lifted her for a second time and brought the short distance to Zhao's quarters, through the grand set of double doors engraved with a long, slithering dragon. Its eyes were encrusted with sparkling black opals, and Katara thought the dragon closely resembled the Admiral.

Zhao's quarters were astounding. His sitting room was larger than Katara's entire house back in the South Pole, and his bedchamber reminded her of King Bumi's palace back in the Earth Kingdom. The harsh wooden planks were buried in soft sealskin carpets, and weapons of every kind, battle axes, swords with hilts of gold, arrows with the priceless feathers of the snow peacock, hung on the walls. The Admiral sat down in a large, overstuffed chair near the fireplace in the sitting room, and with a flick of his wrist had the logs roaring with flame. Katara felt the warm glow of the fire, a welcome relief from the damp, cold dungeon.

Her relief did not last long. Zhao gave the guards a stern look, and they set Katara down on the floor before his chair. Blood from Katara's lip dribbled down her chin and neck to her chest, and the hideous scrape on her leg oozed out blood mixed with pus and scraps of flesh.

"This can be as easy as you make it," said the Admiral, stroking his closely cropped black beard. "You can either tell me where the Avatar is and be set free, or you can die a slow and painful death. I've heard that waterbenders are smart, and from what I saw of them at the siege of the North Pole, they don't appear to be fools. Hopefully you will live up to their standards and not disappoint them."

Katara remained silent and stood stock-still, ignoring the way the blood from her lip soaked into the thin scraps of fabric that covered her breasts, turning a blind eye to the pain in her leg.

"Where is the Avatar?" questioned the Admiral in a confidant voice.

Silence.

"Remain silent at your own peril," said Admiral Zhao after a moment or two.

When Katara still didn't answer, a jet of flame shot out of Zhao's fingertips, licking at the wound on her leg. Katara squeezed her eyes in pain, but still said nothing.

"Where is the Avatar?" Zhao repeated.

Katara looked at him, and laughed. "Do you really think a bit of fire would scare me into telling you? That was barely enough flame to light a candle."

The wrath in Zhao's eyes frightened her enough to make her take a step back. He leaped up out of his chair, and in one stride had crossed the gap between them and seized her arms, his fingernails digging into her skin. With his teeth he took hold of the strings of her top and ripped them in two. The bloody triangles fell to the ground, leaving her chest bare and exposed.

"I've been raped before," Katara sneered at him. "By your own men. It will be interesting to see if the mighty Admiral Zhao can best them, or if he has to have real men to do the job for him."

The look of violent rage on Zhao's face ceased, and was replaced by a placid smile. Yet despite the smile, there was no mistaking the lust, mixed in with wrath and evil, in his black eyes. He dragged her kicking and screaming to his bedroom and thrust her roughly onto the bed.

"Yes, indeed, it will be interesting," said the Admiral, just before forcing himself on top of the flailing girl.

Jade smoothed her dress nervously as she hurried down the corridor, checking every corner. She knew that her purpose was to get caught and then present her excuse, yet she was still deathly frightened of coming face to face with the firebenders, the ones who were responsible for the death of her mother. Especially the one who had captured Katara.

She held her head high, and tried not to let her fear show in her eyes as she saw two guards coming towards her, both dressed in the black and red leather uniforms that were typical of Fire Nation soldiers. She tried to ignore the way they looked at her, like a hungry cat would a mouse, and had to fight up the urge to pull her dress up. She knew that if she was going to act the role of a whore, she had to look the part, but the sensation of her breasts perched halfway out of her dress was still difficult to bear. Especially with these dirty dogs staring at them like that.

Fire Nation captains treated paid-for whores with respect, she remembered hearing from some random person back in her village. It was only the prisoners that were looked upon as no more than fleas that fell off the captains back. Jade knew that she looked the part of a bought and paid for whore, and that the soldiers she saw before her wouldn't dare to touch her. She shuddered to think of what was being done to Katara, the captain's prisoner.

"You there!" she said to the guards, managing to keep her voice from trembling. "The captain has just finished with me, and before I'll be paid I'm to fetch the new prisoner and bring her to him so that he may take his pleasures from her." She gave them a look that plainly said they were no more than scum between her toes, and she wouldn't tolerate any nonsense from them.

"I didn't know that the General would be taking a whore with him when we left the last town. No doubt you'll be on our ship for some time, aye?" said one of the guards. Both of them gave her a sly grin.

Jade's stern expression never wavered. "Until the ship comes to the next town, I'll be here for the captain's pleasure. But business is business. If you boys can scrape up enough gold, I'd be happy to let each of you take me. However, I'll have you know that I was the most talented in my village, and my price is far more than a meager soldier can ever hope to save up." As soon as the words were out of her mouth she was shocked that she had made up such a story, and blushed. The hungry look from the soldiers, however, quickly cooled her cheeks.

"Let us worry about finding the gold," said the other guard, the one to the left, in that same crafty voice. "You worry about getting the prisoner up to the captain, or he'll give us a sound lashing."

"I haven't yet familiarized myself with the ship," said Jade. "You'll have to take me down to the prison barracks, and show me which one is the latest prisoner. The captain didn't bother to describe her."

"Do you happen to know which captain it was?" said the guard to her left. "I don't quite recall taking any new prisoners aboard recently."

"I didn't bother to learn his name," Jade scoffed. "Whoever is in charge of this shabby piece of wood."

"We take our orders from Prince Zuko and General Iroh, and no one else," said to the guard to her right. "Neither one is inclined to keep prisoners, and I don't think we've taken anyone new lately."

Jade gulped. So this was Prince Zuko's ship. She had seen her share of him, when he had come to the North Pole and attempted to capture Aang. She didn't think too much of him or his firebending skills, not after she had seen the way Katara soundly defeated him in the Spirit Garden. Still, she was glad it was him that had captured Katara, and not Admiral Zhao.

But wait. If he was the one who had captured Katara, then why were the soldiers claiming to have no prisoners?

"Surely there must be someone down there," she said, trying to keep the rising panic out of her voice. "General Iroh specifically said for me to collect the new prisoner, and bring her to him."

"I don't remember any new prisoner," said the guard to her left. "Unless it's that old hag of a stowaway that Prince Zuko caught raiding our food supply. I was under the impression that he dropped her off at the last village."

"Maybe she's still here," said the other guard, starting to get nervous. "If the General requested the prisoner, then there must be someone down there."

"You don't remember her at all?" cried Jade, completely losing her grip on her panic. "A young girl around my age, a little taller than me, with long curly hair and blue eyes? A waterbender?"

Both soldiers turned to look at her suspiciously. "I thought you said that the General didn't bother to describe her," said one of them sharply.

Jade struggled not to become flustered. "I – I – I might have seen her before," she forced out in a squeaky voice. Her throat was becoming tight and dry with panic, and she tossed her hair and tried to calm down. "Besides, the General told me he prefers tall, blue-eyed waterbenders. And who are you to question General Iroh's orders?"

"She's right," the other soldier said. "She's merely the messenger. The General's orders are the General's orders. If he says he wants a prisoner, then there must be one down in the cells."

The soldier to Jade's right turned to her. "Follow me," he said.

Jade followed the guards through countless corriders, down innumerable staircases and through more doors than she had ever seen in her life. She was amazed at the size of the ship. Three of her entire houses back in her water tribe village would have easily fit on just one floor.

At last the guards and Jade reached the very bottom floor, the prison barracks. The deck was divided into what must have been thirty iron-enclosed cells the size of Jade's bedchamber back home, though all of them appeared to be empty. When the guards came to the very last cell at the end of the deck, Jade saw someone sitting on the floor inside. Her heart leapt.

"Katara?" she whispered, softly enough so that the guards couldn't hear her.

The woman in the cell turned around, but even before she did Jade could tell that this was not her. It was an old, pleasantly plump woman, with eyebrows so bushy that they appeared to be one continuous line of hair. Down to her waist hung a thin black braid streaked with wisps of gray. She gave an angry frown at Jade, and when she opened her mouth to speak Jade could see the rows of rotting brown teeth.

Before a word could be uttered from the woman's mouth, one of the guards spoke to her. "General Iroh requests your prescence."

The woman looked delighted and started to get up from the wooden planked floor, but Jade spoke. "No. This couldn't possibly be whom the General was talking about. Do you have any other prisoners?"

"As you can clearly see, the rest of the cells are empty," said the guard. "If General Iroh wanted the prisoner from down below, then he must have meant this woman here."

"General Iroh clearly said the, 'young lady prisoner.' This fat hag does not look anything like a young lady to me," snapped Jade, her panic beginning to rise again. The nice, young waterbender Jade would have never said such hurtful things to anyone. The expensive whore Jade thought nothing of insulting someone below her.

"You'd better take this issue to General Iroh himself, then," said the other guard nervously. "And tell him we tried. We brought you down here like he ordered. We had nothing to do with it."

"Nothing to do with what?"

The soldiers and Jade spun around to the sound of the voice. The guards instantly dropped to one knee before Prince Zuko, but Jade just stood there, wondering if highly-prized whores bowed to banished Princes. In the end, she said nothing, only fixed him with an icy stare.

Zuko seemed taken aback by her harsh glare. "Who are you?" he demanded. When she didn't answer, he turned to the men. "Who is this girl here?"

"A whore, sire," replied one of the soldiers. "Picked up by General Iroh at the last town."

Zuko looked sufficiently embarrassed. "I did not know that my uncle had hired a – a –"

"Prostitute," Jade finished for him. "That's what I prefer being called." She was surprised at how easily the words came out. Perhaps it was because the Prince was so much more handsome than she remembered, with his tall, muscular build and thick black hair pulled back in a ponytail and intriguing black eyes. She studied the mysterious scar that shrouded his left eye in grayish-pink skin, something that she hadn't taken notice of upon seeing him at the siege of the North Pole.

"Were you looking for something, er, um, ma'am?" inquired Zuko in a very polite voice.

Before the soldiers could speak up, Jade began to drawl in a flirtatious voice that shocked her. Apparently she was better at pretending to be a prostitute than she had thought. "Oh, no, darlin', I had just heard that a friend of mine, a fellow prostitute, had been hired by one of the men on this boat here, and I was seeing if maybe I could find her and get some tips for the next time I'm with General Iroh." She winked at the Prince, appalled by her own behavior, yet somehow unable to stop.

The Prince looked shocked as well, as if he hadn't expected her to be so bold and blunt. Apparently he hadn't had much experience with whores before. Jade had seen several around her water tribe village, and had found them to be much more brazen than she was being now.

"If you friend was here, she certainly wouldn't be in the prison barracks. We of the Fire Nation do not treat our – investments – so poorly. If you would like, I could go and ask my uncle if he knows where she is staying. Most likely she would be on one of the upper floors, where our guests usually accommodate themselves."

Jade was beginning to panic again. Katara was a prisoner. Somehow, she doubted that Prince Zuko would be treating his only link to the Avatar, who also happened to be the girl who had humiliated him and made him look like little more than a novice in battle, as an honored guest. But if she wasn't in the prison barracks, then where else would she be?

Perhaps Zuko knew who she was. He recognized her from the North Pole, and had seen that she was a friend of Katara's. Perhaps he was assuming that she knew where the Avatar was as well as Katara, and he knew that this was all a hoax. He was just playing with her now. He knew that she was here to rescue Katara, and he certainly wasn't going to just lead her right to the prisoner.

For a moment Jade considered telling Prince Zuko that it was all right, that she would do just fine without finding her friend and had to be going. Then she would go back on the deck and reunite with Aang, Sokka, Appa, and Momo.

No. She couldn't leave. She couldn't just abandon Katara, and leave her here to her fate. She could still hear her best friend's screams from that horrific day, the day the Fire Nation invaded the South Pole, and she thought of what would have happened to her had Katara not been there, if she had not been willing to sacrifice herself for her friend.

She also knew that Sokka wouldn't leave the ship without his sister. For that matter, she suspected that Aang would be loath to leave the girl he loved in the hands of the enemy.

She turned to look at Prince Zuko, and a spark of anger ignited. If he wanted to play games, let him. Katara was on this ship, and Jade was not leaving without her. If Zuko wanted to play with fire, he was going to get burned. Or, more appropriately, water.

"Lead the way," she said to the Prince with a coy smile.


	3. Unexpected Guests

It was so dark outside that the ship in front of them was barely visible, the smoke curling from the chimney looking like an ashy gray ghost sailing into the stars. The stars were the only objects that were to be seen, winking and sparkling like diamonds against the deep black abyss of the sky. Aang tightened his fist in Appa's fur from agitation, then released the bison and scratched Momo's long, floppy ears as he tried to relax.

"Chill out," said Sokka, barely visible in the blackness. "She'll be here. She's probably already there, and we just can't see her in this damned darkness."

"It got dark hours ago," said Aang, biting his bottom lip. "What if they captured her, too? What if Katara's already dead? What if she's not even on this ship?"

"She has to be on this ship. There's no other one close to the Earth Kingdom. And if they're holding Katara as bait for you, they're certainly not going to kill her after only one day."

But Aang wasn't listening. "What's that?" he said distractedly, gazing off in the direction of the Earth Kingdom.

Off in the distance were two white sails, looking like those belonging to a ship, yet they were floating in the air. The sails billowed in the gentle breeze, like two crisp, clean white sheets that made Aang remember how tired he was, and how much he longed for a bed.

"In the name of – what is that?" hissed Sokka, grabbing Aang's shoulder. "It looks like one of those glider things we saw at the Northern Air Temple."

"Maybe it is," replied Aang, and suddenly he was worried. What was it? Where would anyone here get an airbending glider? He took up Appa's reins.

"I think we should go," he said gravely. "Yip, yip!"

The massive bison took off with a grunt, his bulky body riding the currents of air like a dolphin in the waves of the sea. Aang kept one hand firmly gripped on the reins as he urged Appa on, his anxiety growing with each passing second.

"They're gaining on us!" Sokka called to him from where he was keeping watch near Appa's tail. The panic in his voice was all-too evident.

Aang shook the reins again. The wind howled as if its heart would break, and then roared like an angry lion. A storm was rising, that much Aang could see from the rising black thunderclouds up ahead. A huge clap of thunder caused him to leap out of his skin, and the accompanying streak of lightning seemed only inches away.

The two boys were not prepared for the torrent of rain that ensued. Big, fat icy drops began pelting down, splattering the boys and drenching them in frigid water. The wind whipped them like the tail of a giant iguana, chapping Aang's wet skin to the point where it began to bleed. He ignored his raw skin and concentrated on keeping Appa in line, and holding on to his soaked fur.

"Sokka!" he yelled. "Are you all right?" But his voice was carried away by the wind, and it was too much of an effort to turn his head to see if his friend was all right. He could feel Momo's claws digging into his shoulders as the lemur fought to keep from being blown into the violent, tumultuous waters of the sea. Aang briefly wondered if the gilder was still following them, then decided there was no way it could stay in the sky under these conditions. Whoever had been manning it was long gone now.

Thunder boomed, lightning flashed. The hairs on the back of Aang's neck stood up despite the avalanche of rain. He knew what that meant. Lightning was about to strike.

"Sokka!" he screamed as loud as he possibly could, so loud that his throat felt as if it had been stung by a million hornets. "Hold on!" He gave Appa's reins a sharp snap, and the bison stopped in midair and suddenly plunged downward towards the roaring sea. A mere second later, a crack of lightning snaked downwards where they had been only a moment ago.

Aang took a deep breath, filling his lungs with as much water as air, before Appa hit the ocean with a mighty splash, and he found himself submerged in icy cold salt water. With great difficulty he lifted his staff, and swung it in a tight circle.

The companions, including Appa, were instantly enveloped in a pocket of air. Aang took in great, gasping breaths as Appa paddled forward, and then he turned, frantically looking for Sokka.

"Sokka!" he yelled. "Sokka!"

Finally he spotted the young water tribe man. Sokka's boot buckle had gotten caught on the girth of Appa's saddle blanket, and by that alone he had managed to hang on to the great beast as they dove into the sea. Aang didn't have to shake him to realize that his friend had been knocked unconscious.

They had to find land. They couldn't stay under here forever, that much Aang knew. The air pocket wouldn't last forever, and then they would be stuck underwater without air on top of everything else. Somehow, Aang had to find land.

He briefly toyed with the idea of flying up with his staff and looking for land. He wasn't sure if his staff would hold up in this weather. But Appa was too exhausted to fly around the sky for very long. It was their only chance.

Aang summoned what little strength he had left, and with a sweep of his hand shot up out of the water and into the threatening sky. He took his staff in both hands and held it behind his back, and long red wings spread from the tips. Aang glided through the air, trying to see amidst the pounding ran drops that splattered in his eyes, and the raging wind that threatened to send him back into the sea. He scanned the ocean as far as he could see, looking for a town somewhere.

There! An island! About a mile away, Aang could see a mass of land covered in trees. The trees would shelter them from the storm until it calmed down, and they were rested enough to try and make it back to the Fire Nation ship. Balancing the staff in one hand, Aang managed to bring the thin wooden whistle that hung around his neck to his lips. The wood was wet, the whistle was filled with salt water, but Aang still managed to blast a short, piercing note.

He spun around, and was relieved to see Appa rise out of the ocean, with Momo hanging onto his head and Sokka still dangling from the girth. He made a gesture with his arm, hoping desperately that Appa could see it and would understand to follow him, and then headed for the island.

With the last bit of strength in his body, Aang spiraled downward towards the island, and was relieved to see the exhausted bison crash down on the sandy beach a few seconds behind him. The wings on his staff disappeared, and he managed to drag himself across the beach and amongst the trees. Appa followed, bringing Sokka and Momo out of the howling wind and hammering rain.

Aang freed Sokka's boot from the girth and then let the boy drop to the soft ground and sleep. He fell to the ground and closed his eyes, about to do the same.

"Oh good! I'm so glad you made it. We thought you had been lost in the storm!"

Aang's eyes flew open at the sound of the familiar voice. He groaned when he saw who it was.

"You're wasting your time with all this. I'll never tell you where he is, and he won't come for me."

"Oh, my opinion quite differs," answered Admiral Zhao confidently as he circled the girl on the floor. "The Avatar knows that I won't hesitate to kill you if he doesn't turn himself in."

"And what makes you think that he cares if you kill me? I mean nothing to him. I'm nothing more than a water tribe peasant, a means of entertainment for him," said Katara in a weak voice from where she lay in a crumpled heap.

"He'll come for you. I saw the way he looked at you when we invaded the North Pole. He won't leave you to die." Zhao stroked his beard. "It is taking him a long time," he said, almost to himself. "I would have thought his tracking skills were better than this."

"He doesn't care. He's not coming," Katara cried pleadingly. "Just kill me now, and end this pointless torture."

"You're going back to your cell. Any more today would indeed kill you, and we can't have that just yet," said the Admiral. He snapped his fingers, and two guards appeared, the same two that had first escorted Katara to the Admiral's quarters the day she arrived. They scooped her up roughly, making her cry out against the pain of her broken ribs. The soldiers laughed, their hands running roughly down her legs and over her stomach and breasts. If she had had any strength left she would have made them pay.

If she had had any strength. She had no strength left. She moaned and tried to ignore the meaty, dirty fingers that slipped inside her top and traced the swell of her breasts. Her whole body hurt, and she felt as if she were one big bruise.

At least he hadn't raped her today.

The soldiers dumped her onto the floor of her cell before chaining her shackle back up to the wall. They laughed, each of them taking one last turn to paw at her bare stomach before leaving and slamming the heavy wooden door behind them.

"Oh, Katara," breathed Suki, her voice choked with unshed tears as she moved closer to cradle her friend's battered head in her arms. "Here." She handed Katara a bowl of musty-smelling water. Katara managed to lift the arm that wasn't broken and dip her fingers into the bowl.

She pressed her wet fingers to her broken arm, a few inches above the wrist where the bone was snapped, and winced in pain, biting her lip until she tasted blood. She kept pressing until she felt the bones mend, and the break heal.

Her arm still hurt as she took her fingers away. Her newly-found healing skills would make the bones reknit, but the arm would still be tender and weak for a few days. And she could heal her own burn wounds, but she couldn't keep them from scarring, that much she had discovered. She looked down at her body, which was now scribbled with scars and bruises. Tears welled up in her eyes, but she refused to let them spill. She had cried enough in the past few days.

"You don't have to be so brave," Suki said as she handed Katara a wooden bowl. "Here. Dinner's cheese tonight."

"Delicious," muttered Katara through clenched teeth as she dug her fingers into her ribs. It was almost too much pain to bear, but she concentrated on letting the healing powers seep from her mind and ebb into the cracks of her ribs. She imagined them functioning and strong again, and pictured the cracks in the clean white bones filling and becoming whole.

When she finally felt the last thread of power drain away, she sighed and dropped her hand. Like her arm, the newly healed bones were still tender, but at least mended. The other girls in the chamber watched in silent awe, like they always did when Katara performed her healing abilities on herself every day. She did it for the other girls as well when they were in need, but none of them ever needed to be healed as much as Katara herself did.

She sniffed at the hard yellow cheese in the bowl. It smelled slightly rancid, and if she hadn't been faint from hunger she would have never touched it. She supposed it could be worse. The "first-class whores," as the girls in the first chamber had so named themselves, received three square meals a day, if you could call cold porridge and foul cheese and fish heads a meal. They were the girls that were reserved for Admiral Zhao himself and his highest-ranking officers. No other men could touch them.

The "second-class whores," as the girls in the next chamber were called, were for any member of the crew, even the lowest scullery servant, that wished to satisfy their desires. The girls were mostly the same age as the ones in the first chamber, but they were not as attractive, their bodies not as fit and trim, their faces not as comely. These girls received one or two meals per day, if any at all, and were not allowed to bathe nearly as often. Admiral Zhao allowed the first-class whores to bathe once a day, since he liked them to be clean and sweet-smelling when he called for them, and he made sure to feed them well so that they would not lose any of their curves.

Katara had learned that when a female prisoner arrived, Admiral Zhao himself decided whether they were first or second-class. She supposed that she should feel a little bit of pride that she had been placed in the first-class chamber, but somehow that didn't matter. She would rather be placed in the second-class chamber and never be touched by the Admiral again than get three meals and a bath a day.

"Doesn't it drive you mad?" said Katara conversationally when she had finished the cheese. "To be so helpless. I can't stand having them touch me, and not being able to do anything about it."

"You have no idea," replied Suki. "The things that I'd like to do to that man run through my head a thousand times a day."

Katara felt the slightest twinge of guilt. She knew from talking to the other girls that before her arrival, Suki had been the Admiral's personal favorite. She had been for his use and his use only, and she had been treated fairly well. Now Katara seemed to have replaced her, except that in her case the Admiral's idea of, "fairly well," including daily, crippling beatings and rapes that left her feeling as if she had been split open.

It was easy to see why Suki had been Zhao's personal favorite. She was a beautiful girl, rivaling Jade in good looks, but in different ways. Whereas Jade was soft and curvy, Suki was small-boned and slightly taller than Katara, her slender, wiry build made up entirely of muscle. Her chest was small, only about half the size of Jade's, but it suited her slim form. Her face was beautiful as well. Her eyes, framed by sweeping blond lashes, were as large and round as teacups, and an unearthly violet-blue color. They were filled with a fierce, threatening pride, which told others that she would not be dominated easily. Katara could see why Sokka had fallen so head-over-heels in love with her.

"Cheer up," smiled Suki as she twisted her now-short, wavy blond hair into a braid. "Aang will come for you soon. He won't leave you to endure this much longer."

"I'm beginning to have my doubts about that," sighed Katara. "Besides, if he had an ounce of sense he would see that my life is a small price to pay. He's no good to the world dead."

"Not a small price to him," answered Suki. "I think you underestimate his feelings for you. And if he doesn't come – well – your brother certainly won't leave you to die."

Katara saw the faintest hint of a blush creep up on Suki's cheeks. She smiled slyly. "Yes, Sokka won't be so keen on leaving me here with these Fire Nation pigs. Or you, for that matter."

"Me? What does Sokka care about me?"

Katara felt her heart warm when she remembered the way Sokka had talked about Suki, how he had described her as more of a goddess than a mere human girl, and the tears he had shed when they had been forced to depart so suddenly. Not even Yue, the mysterious Princess of the northern water tribe that Sokka had been attracted to, had been able to inspire such feelings in Katara's brother.

"Oh please, Suki, he was madly in love with you. You must have seen it. He was devastated when we had to leave, especially since you were in the middle of a battle with Fire Nation soldiers. I've only seen him that upset a couple of times."

Suki's jaw dropped open, and she looked genuinely shocked. "Really?" she said, a soft smile lighting up her lovely features. "I think I was in love with him, too. He was so cocky and arrogant when he first arrived, and then seeing him in one of our uniforms made me completely melt. The entire village could see that I was smitten with him, but I was just too proud to admit it. Besides, in our village it is custom that warriors marry only Kyoshi men, and not foreigners."

Katara had always found the lifestyle of the Kyoshi people fascinating. In the South Pole, women were expected to stay home and cook and clean and care for children while the men went out and hunted and fought battles. Katara remembered how much she had hated being forced to stay inside with the other girls her age as she painstakingly tried to make straight stitches with a needle and thread. As the only waterbender in their tribe besides her grandmother, she was granted some reprieve from these tedious lessons, and would often go out with Sokka and his friends to practice shooting arrows and throwing boomerangs.

On Kyoshi Island, the roles of men and women were reversed. There were few men on Kyoshi Island, only enough to ensure that the population did not die out. There was no such thing as marrying for love. A Kyoshi warrior chose her husband based on strength and capability, so that he would father strong, capable children, and it was the duty of the men to stay home with the children and keep house while the women trained and went to battle whenever the occasion called for it. Katara had seen the weapons these women used, a leather fan called an _iguani_, trimmed with sharp metal. At first glance it looked like an ordinary fan to be used by a noble woman, but in the hands of a Kyoshi warrior, especially one as skilled as Suki, it was a deadly weapon that showed no mercy.

Suki seemed caught up in a trance. "Before I was captured, I was scheduled to be wed," she said in a far away voice. "To a man many years older than me, who had many Kyoshi warrior wives and had already fathered many Kyoshi children. If Admiral Zhao had not captured me, I probably would have flung myself into the sea with the _unagi _before marrying him."

Katara took her friend's hand. She thought about Jade, and how she had been engaged to Reid before running away.

She hadn't thought about Jade in a while, but she desperately hoped that her dear friend was all right. She hoped that Jade had had the sense to not come after her, and had stayed back in the Earth Kingdom under the protection of King Bumi and his soldiers. Though Jade was indeed a waterbender, she was a weak and untried one, and would be no match for a Fire Nation soldier.

"Do we have to talk about such somber issues?" broke in one of the girls against the western wall, a pretty redheaded earthbender named Deribeth that Katara had become good friends with since coming on the ship. "If you're feeling better, Katara, could you show us some more dance moves?"

Katara grinned and nodded. She had come up with the idea yesterday to teach the girls some of the traditional dance moves of the water tribe people, in order to keep their spirits light. She was a very talented dancer, and had been one of the best in the South Pole.

The shackle and the chain allowed for her to stand up and move around a few feet, and so with Suki's aid, ignoring the pain in her ribs, she got up and spread her feet apart. All five of the other girls, including Suki and Deribeth, stood up as well and imitated her stance. Katara started in on a fast, lively jig that required her to kick her legs up so that her knee was touching her nose. It hurt her ribs, but she kept at it, because the other girls were laughing and giggling and enjoying it as they attempted to imitate her and then lost their balance and landed in a heap on the floor.

After about an hour of dancing, the guards brought in the two washbasins of cold water, six washcloths, and three cakes of dirty yellow soap that smelled suffocatingly strong of lye. Katara wrinkled her nose as she dipped her cloth into the water and then lathered it with soap, shivering as she swathed herself in the icy water.

When their baths were done and the guards had taken the soap and water away, the girls stood up again as Suki showed them a few battle stances of the Kyoshi warriors, using her washcloth as a substitute for her fan. Katara had a good time laughing with the other girls, and for an instant she was able to forget where she was, and what would be done to her the next day.

"I'm sorry we weren't able to find your friend," said Prince Zuko, sounding genuinely apologetic. "None of the men have any recollection of seeing a tall brunette girl with blue eyes. She must not have come on the ship."

Jade tried not to let her panic show as she glanced out a nearby window. It was morning, and Aang and Sokka would have surely left by now. Even if she had been willing to abandon Katara, all chances of escaping were gone.

"Are there any other Fire Nation ships around here?" she asked desperately. "I'm sure she left the last town and got on a ship. It would really mean a lot to me to find her."

"No ships that I know of," replied Zuko. "And if she were on this one, believe me, I would know about it by now."

Jade struggled to keep the anger out of her eyes as she looked up at him. He knew perfectly well where Katara was. He knew that Jade knew that Katara was on the ship, and yet he insisted on playing games with her.

"Well, it's not really that important to me, anyway," said Jade smoothly, completely contradicting what she had said earlier and hoping that Zuko would not notice. "In fact, I couldn't care less." She looked up, expecting to see the note of surprise on Zuko's face, and was disappointed when she didn't. She rubbed her hands together. "What does a girl have to do to get a hot meal around here?"

"Why, of course. I'm sorry I didn't think to offer you one earlier," said Zuko. "I'll have a servant deliver it to your room."

"Well," Jade began. "I don't really have a definite room of my own. I've been –" her face turned scarlet, " – sleeping in the rooms of the other men since I arrived, and taking my meals there."

The Prince turned red as well. "Ah, well," he said in a stumbling voice. "If you would like, you can take it up in my suite. I have a meeting to attend, and you can make yourself at home."

Jade's panic came swooping in. It had been safe to tantalize the other men because she was quite certain that they would never be able to produce an appropriate amount of gold to hire her. In the case of Prince Zuko, he would certainly be able to afford the services of a prostitute, even one as high-class as Jade appeared to be. If he offered her the money, she could not refuse him, or else risk blowing her cover.

Remembering that she was supposed to be playing the role of a scarlet woman, and that the prospect of a customer should please her instead of fill her with dread, Jade dropped a quick curtsy and then winked at him. He didn't seem to have much experience with women. Perhaps if she were bold enough, she could intimidate him into backing down.

"As Your Highness wishes," she cooed coyly, coming up beside him and stroking his arm. "Show me the way."

Zuko's eyes widened. "No, I wasn't implying – ah – I only meant," he stammered. "See – I wouldn't have nearly enough gold to purchase the companionship of a woman so fine as yourself."

Jade looked at him in surprise. "But you're the Prince of the Fire Nation. Surely you can afford anything your heart desires."

"Banished Prince of the Fire Nation," Zuko corrected her. "My father disowned me. I haven't been in contact with him since I set off to capture the Avatar. My uncle is only a poor general, who receives only the bare minimum from my father to keep the crew and the ship running, plus whatever income he makes from his estates back in the Fire Nation. We aren't exactly poor, but we are by no means rich."

Jade glanced around the ship, looking at the expensive tapestries and lush carpets. She raised one eyebrow skeptically.

Zuko gave a tiny, sheepish grin that was gone almost as soon as it had appeared. "This is my father's ship. The one luxury he granted me before he disowned me was to give me a ship and crew. Everything else has come from the sweat of my back."

"Everything I've earned has come from the sweat of my back as well," said Jade. She opened her mouth to tell him about the tragic death of her mother and all she had been through since. She wanted to share with him her memories of Katara, and allow him to see how much their friendship meant to her, because although she had had many friends back in the North Pole, Katara was the one she could count on, the one that she knew would stand up for her no matter what. The one she could trust.

But then she remembered that she was Jade the expensive whore, and that expensive whores didn't have friends or tragic pasts. She shut her mouth and smiled up at him.

Zuko stared at her, his coal-black eyes boring into her emerald-green ones. After a moment, he said, "I'll show you to my room."

Jade allowed herself to be led down several hallways and up a flight of stairs. Zuko paused in front of a set of double doors, taking a key out of his pocket to unlock the brass locks in the shape of a serpent. He turned the knob, and the left door swung inward.

The room was remarkably simple, with only a bed, a sofa, and an overstuffed easy chair. The walls were plain and bare except for a set of silver armor and a long, deadly sharp sword that hung from a peg on the wall. There were no tapestries or ink paintings such as the ones Jade had seen decorating the corridors, and the floor was bare wood planking except for several thin woolen carpets scattered about.

Jade turned to the Prince. "Your room suits you," she said to him. "Simple and mysterious."

Zuko only nodded gruffly. "I'll have a servant bring you a meal," he said. "In the meantime, feel free to have use of my privy room and bath, Miss-,"

His cheeks suddenly flushed. "I'm terribly sorry, but I just realized that I don't even know your name."

"Oh, well, ah, it's… Rose," Jade quickly informed him. As soon as she said it, she wanted to kick herself. She should have given him a scarlet name, the most scarlet one that she could think of. Instead, like the senile fool that she was, she had told him her mother's name. A whore with her mother's name. It was an insult to her memory.

"Rose," said Zuko softly. His gaze swept over her, and came to rest on her shining red hair. "It suits you." He turned on his heel and left swiftly, the door crashing closed behind him.

Jade stood in the center of his room, and she at last allowed anxiety to sweep over her. What a fine mess she was in. She was supposed to be searching for her friend, and yet here she was in the bedchamber of the Fire Nation Prince, her enemy, and no closer to finding Katara than she had been upon boarding the ship. She broke into a cold sweat as she thought about what would happen if Katara weren't on the ship. She would be trapped here, a prisoner as surely as if Zuko had clapped her in irons and chained her up in the prison barracks. Aang and Sokka had no way of knowing what had happened to her. What if they were still waiting for her, despite what she had told them before sneaking on the ship? What if the guards happened to see them, and they were caught?

There was no point in panicking, at least not yet. Jade decided to take advantage of Zuko's offer of a bath, and so she shed her dress and entered the powder room. To her surprise it was much nicer than the actually bedroom, constructed of sparkling white marble, with a large marble washtub with gold claw feet. It was already filled with steaming hot water, and Jade slid down to the bottom with a sigh of pure heavenly bliss, her worries seeming to melt away.

Lining the edge of the tub were bottles of expensive oils and hair soaps, causing Jade to smirk. Sweat of his back indeed. She picked up a vat of lavender hair oil and poured it on her scalp, using the porcelain-toothed comb resting in the soap dish to run it through her hair. With a soft lamb's wool rag, she swathed her body with jasmine and moonblossom, and she even yanked the hairs from under her arms with the silver plucking instrument that lay next to the oils.

She stepped gingerly out of the tub and was wrapping herself in a large, fluffy towel when she heard the knock at the door. Thinking it must be Zuko, she hurriedly dried herself on and slipped into the low-cut dress she had arrived in before opening the door.

Instead of Zuko, however, it was a maidservant, and elderly, stooped lady with graying hair. "Prince Zuko humbly requests that you join him for dinner," she said, bowing.

"He was supposed to send a meal up for me," replied Jade, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"The cooks are rather busy," said the woman, and then winked. "And apparently you made quite an impression on the young Prince."

Jade blushed, and then remembered that she was supposed to be used to this sort of thing. "Well, it is my job," she said, with a wink of her own. "But I have nothing to wear."

"Yes," the maid pondered. "You most certainly cannot wear that to a formal dinner."

"Formal dinner?" squeaked Jade. "I thought it would be just me and Zuko."

"Yes, but you are forgetting that Zuko is the Prince of the Fire Nation, if not banished. He is royalty, and any meal involving him is considered formal."

Jade sighed with relief. For a moment she had panicked, thinking that, "formal," meant that General Iroh would be joining them. If she dined with the General, Zuko would certainly realize that his uncle had never seen her before, and that Jade had been making up the story about Iroh hiring her at the last town. If he did not know already.

"It would please me greatly to join the Prince for dinner," she said with a slight bow. "But this is the only garment I brought with me, and I'm afraid it is hardly suited to a formal evening meal."

The maidservant looked her up and down. "I suppose I could sneak in and borrow something of Princess Zula's," she said with a sigh. "She's a bit taller than you, and you're a bit bigger in the bust. But it should do for now. She has so many gowns that I'm sure she would never miss one."

"Princess Zula?" questioned Jade, furrowing her brow in confusion. She couldn't help but feel a slight stab of disappointment. "I wasn't aware that Prince Zuko was betrothed."

The maid threw back her head and laughed. "Zuko engaged – it's enough to make an old woman get the giggles again. And especially to the likes of Zula. No, the Princess is his sister, though blood seems to be the only thing that links them. She searches for the Avatar relentlessly as well, and is Zuko's biggest rival. Yet because they are related, they are required by protocol to host one another whenever their ships pass by. She is on this ship now, and will be joining you for dinner as well, I daresay."

Jade had heard of the great Princess Zula, but she had not been aware that Zula was Zuko's sister. She had not even known that he had a sister, though she supposed there was no reason she should, as she had never spoken with him before today. She trembled with intimidation at the prospect of meeting the woman she had heard so much about. She recalled the legends told around the fireplaces of the North Pole, of a mighty Fire Nation warrior who single-handedly destroyed the royal guards of the Northern Air Temple and then led the relentless slaughter of the monks. These tales had always frightened her, especially when she learned that this infamous figure was a woman. Jade had been taught that it was unnatural for women to go to battle and fight and bend elements, and the thought of one that did had always been terrifying to her as a little girl. It was only after being reunited with Katara, and seeing her friend's skill in battle, that Jade had come to realize that perhaps the ways of her tribe were a bit outdated.

Well, if Zuko had requested her presence at dinner, there was no way out of it, even if it meant she would have to meet his sister. Jade smiled at the maid. "I can be ready in half an hour," she said.

Hey everyone! This chapter is a little shorter my friend told me that my chapters were too long, so hopefully this one is more manageable. Please, please, please, PLEASE read and review!


	4. Flying Arrows

Zuko's room was remarkably simple, with only a bed, a sofa, and an overstuffed easy chair. The walls were plain and bare except for a set of silver armor and a long, deadly sharp sword that hung from a peg on the wall. There were no tapestries or ink paintings such as the ones Jade had seen decorating the corridors, and the floor was bare wood planking except for several thin woolen carpets scattered about.

Jade turned to the Prince. "Your room suits you," she said to him. "Simple and mysterious."

Zuko only nodded gruffly. "I'll have a servant bring you a meal," he said. "In the meantime, feel free to have use of my privy room and bath, Miss-,"

His cheeks suddenly flushed. "I'm terribly sorry, but I just realized that I don't even know your name."

"Oh, well, ah, it's… Rose," Jade quickly informed him. As soon as she said it, she wanted to kick herself. She should have given him a scarlet name, the most scarlet one that she could think of. Instead, like the senile fool that she was, she had told him her mother's name. A whore with her mother's name. It was an insult to her memory.

"Rose," said Zuko softly. His gaze swept over her, and came to rest on her shining red hair. "It suits you." He turned on his heel and left swiftly, the door crashing closed behind him.

Jade stood in the center of his room, and she at last allowed anxiety to sweep over her. What a fine mess she was in. She was supposed to be searching for her friend, and yet here she was in the bedchamber of the Fire Nation Prince, her enemy, and no closer to finding Katara than she had been upon boarding the ship. She broke into a cold sweat as she thought about what would happen if Katara wasn't on the ship. She would be trapped here, a prisoner as surely as if Zuko had clapped her in irons and chained her up in the prison barracks. Aang and Sokka had no way of knowing what had happened to her. What if they were still waiting for her, despite what she had told them before sneaking on the ship? What if the guards happened to see them, and they were caught?

There was no point in panicking, at least not yet. Jade decided to take advantage of Zuko's offer of a bath, and so she shed her dress and entered the powder room. To her surprise it was much nicer than the actually bedroom, constructed of sparkling white marble, with a large marble washtub with gold claw feet. It was already filled with steaming hot water, and Jade slid down to the bottom with a sigh of pure heavenly bliss, her worries seeming to melt away.

Lining the edge of the tub were bottles of expensive oils and hair soaps, causing Jade to smirk. Sweat of his back indeed. She picked up a vat of lavender hair oil and poured it on her scalp, using the porcelain-toothed comb resting in the soap dish to run it through her hair. With a soft lamb's wool rag, she swathed her body with jasmine and moonblossom, and she even yanked the hairs from under her arms with the silver plucking instrument that lay next to the oils.

She stepped gingerly out of the tub and was wrapping herself in a large, fluffy towel when she heard the knock at the door. Thinking it must be Zuko, she hurriedly dried herself on and slipped into the low-cut dress she had arrived in before opening the door.

Instead of Zuko, however, it was a maidservant, and elderly, stooped lady with graying hair. "Prince Zuko humbly requests that you join him for dinner," she said, bowing.

"He was supposed to send a meal up for me," replied Jade, her eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"The cooks are rather busy," said the woman, and then winked. "And apparently you made quite an impression on the young Prince."

Jade blushed, and then remembered that she was supposed to be used to this sort of thing. "Well, it is my job," she said, with a wink of her own. "But I have nothing to wear."

"Yes," the maid pondered. "You most certainly cannot wear that to a formal dinner."

"Formal dinner?" squeaked Jade. "I thought it would be just me and Zuko."

"Yes, but you are forgetting that Zuko is the Prince of the Fire Nation, if not banished. He is royalty, and any meal involving him is considered formal."

Jade sighed with relief. For a moment she had panicked, thinking that, "formal," meant that General Iroh would be joining them. If she dined with the General, Zuko would certainly realize that his uncle had never seen her before, and that Jade had been making up the story about Iroh hiring her at the last town. If he did not know already.

"It would please me greatly to join the Prince for dinner," she said with a slight bow. "But this is the only garment I brought with me, and I'm afraid it is hardly suited to a formal evening meal."

The maidservant looked her up and down. "I suppose I could sneak in and borrow something of Princess Zula's," she said with a sigh. "She's a bit taller than you, and you're a bit bigger in the bust. But it should do for now. She has so many gowns that I'm sure she would never miss one."

"Princess Zula?" questioned Jade, furrowing her brow in confusion. She couldn't help but feel a slight stab of disappointment. "I wasn't aware that Prince Zuko was betrothed."

The maid threw back her head and laughed. "Zuko engaged – it's enough to make an old woman get the giggles again. And especially to the likes of Zula. No, the Princess is his sister, though blood seems to be the only thing that links them. She searches for the Avatar relentlessly as well, and is Zuko's biggest rival. Yet because they are related, they are required by protocol to host one another whenever their ships pass by. She is on this ship now, and will be joining you for dinner as well, I daresay."

Jade had heard of the great Princess Zula, but she had not been aware that Zula was Zuko's sister. She had not even known that he had a sister, though she supposed there was no reason she should, as she had never spoken with him before today. She trembled with intimidation at the prospect of meeting the woman she had heard so much about. She recalled the legends told around the fireplaces of the North Pole, of a mighty Fire Nation warrior who single-handedly destroyed the royal guards of the Northern Air Temple and then led the relentless slaughter of the monks. These tales had always frightened her, especially when she learned that this infamous figure was a woman. Jade had been taught that it was unnatural for women to go to battle and fight and bend elements, and the thought of one that did had always been terrifying to her as a little girl. It was only after being reunited with Katara, and seeing her friend's skill in battle, that Jade had come to realize that perhaps the ways of her tribe were a bit outdated.

Well, if Zuko had requested her prescence at dinner, there was no way out of it, even if it meant she would have to meet his sister. Jade smiled at the maid. "I can be ready in half an hour," she said.

Aang sighed in relief as Sokka's blue eyes fluttered open. He corked the flask and then grunted with the effort of trying to help his friend sit up. Sokka coughed, a bit of the blue liquid Aang had just poured in his mouth trickling down his chin. He moaned, and then wiped his chin with his parka sleeve.

"Where are we?"

Aang opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, a female voice cut him off. "Mustafa Island," she replied.

Sokka blinked several times, trying to bring the girls in front of him into focus. "Wh – what are you doing here?" he said in a voice that would have surely been an angry shout had he not just woken up from a three-day coma.

"We followed you in our glider," explained Ming. Or was it Cori? After three days of their company, Aang still had trouble telling them apart, especially when they both wore their hair down. When they had their hair up he could see the tiny scar above Ming's left ear, a reminder of a childhood spill out of a canoe.

"WHAT!" exploded Sokka. "Why would you follow us? We have enough to do without having a bunch of girls tagging along after us!"

"And what does our being girls have to do with anything?" challenged Cori, just inches from Sokka's face. Her thunderous expression disappeared. "Mm, you're kinda cute. You have beautiful eyes," she cooed, running her hand through his dark hair.

Sokka pushed her off him. With Aang's help he managed to get to his feet. He pointed an accusing finger at Cori, but before he could say anything, Aang stopped him.

"It's no use, Sokka," he said. "I talked to them while you were knocked out. They're not going home."

"That's right," said Cori, her hands planted on her slender hips. "We came to help you find Lady Katara."

"Our father never lets us do anything anymore," continued Ming. "He wouldn't even let us fly the glider after we turned thirteen. He said it wasn't proper and would interfere with finding us proper husbands."

"And when we asked him to let us go with you and find Lady Katara, he went on one of his rampages and locked us in our bedchamber," chimed in Cori. "That was when we climbed out the window and slid down the mail slopes to the stables."

"Father hid the glider from us the day after we turned thirteen," added Ming. "But one of our servants saw him, and we bribed him into telling us. So we knew it was in the stables. And then we saw you guys on that big fluffy beast with the arrows on its head, and so we followed."

"By the way," said Cori conversationally. "What happened to Lady Jade? Why did you just drop her off on that Fire Nation ship?"

The vein in Sokka's forehead pulsed with rage. His hand was on the handle of the small axe that he kept in his belt, and Aang quickly moved forward to grab his arm and stop him.

"Why –," began Aang as he was struggling to wrestle the axe out of Sokka's iron grip, "- do you want to help us find Katara?"

Ming sighed. "Because she's smart and funny and brave -,"

"And beautiful," Cori added.

"Right," continued Ming. "She talked to us at the banquet, and told us about some of your adventures. We could never hope to do half the things she's done, or see half the sights she's seen. We're both earth-benders, but Father won't let us practice or have anything to do with it."

"And we could never hope to meet so many interesting people," resumed Cori. "Especially handsome, strong young men like Jet –"

"So anyways," Aang quickly cut her off. "We don't know where Katara is."

"Well," Sokka corrected him. "We know she was captured by the Fire Nation. We sent Jade on the first ship we saw, so that she could free Katara and bring her back to us and we could make a getaway. But she was supposed to come back with Katara that night, and then she didn't, and we were caught in that storm…"

"That's terrible!" cried Cori. "You just left her there! You stupid boor!" The look of outrage swiftly melted off her face, and she smiled coyly. "How naughty. I think what you need is a good spanking…"

Sokka's face turned bright red, and he opened his mouth in protest. Nothing came out. Aang tried to hide a smile.

Ming seemed to be the more sensible of the two. Sensible, or else the one who was not completely hung-up on Sokka. "We have to get her back!" she gasped. "Both of them! Especially Katara! We promised our brother. If she doesn't return, he'll be ever so upset!"

Aang whirled around. "What?" he growled, his face darkening like an approaching thundercloud. Sokka had turned to glare at them as well as he chugged down water from the skin around his neck.

"Our brother, Ulic," said Cori in a bored voice as she flicked a beetle off her shoulder. "Goodness, I can't stand these bugs!"

"What does your brother have to do with Katara?" demanded Aang.

"He was smitten with her at the ball," said Ming gleefully. "Shortly before Lady Katara disappeared, he told me he thought he might be in love with her. So much, in fact, that he had even expressed his desire to ask for her hand in marriage."

Sokka let out a series of spluttering coughs as he choked on his water. "You mean to tell me," he said in a hoarse voice as he pounded himself on the chest, "that after knowing her for less than half a day, your brother wants to marry my sister?"

"Arranged marriages are part of our culture," explained Ming. "It isn't uncommon for a couple to know each other only for a short while before marrying. Especially among the royals."

"Hundreds of girls would cut off their own foot if it meant being able to marry a Prince, even more so if he is as handsome as our brother," drawled Cori. "Your sister should feel honored. _You_ should feel honored. But it's not like it's ever going to happen. You and your sister are mere peasants, and our father would never agree to a union between Ulic and a commoner."

"Commoner!" exploded Sokka. "How dare you! I'll have you know that back in our water tribe village, I was revered as one of the best warriors there. And as the only waterbender besides our grandmother, Katara wasn't exactly unknown among our people, either!"

"While fighting and bending skills are admirable, they still don't make you royal," admonished Cori. "Only blood can do that."

Sokka spat on the ground. "Even if my sister were princess of the entire world, she still wouldn't want to marry a dirty earthbender."

Anger ignited like sparks in Cori's chocolate-brown eyes. A nearby boulder the size of Appa's head lifted a few feet off the ground.

Before a violent and gory battle could break out, Aang grabbed Sokka's arm. "Sokka!" he hissed. "We have to find Katara and Jade. Getting yourself killed won't help to accomplish that!"

"Killed? By a girl?" Sokka laughed. "I could throw a pebble and break her fingernail, and the fight would be finished."

"Listen to me! King Bumi is the most powerful earthbender the world has ever seen. Cori is directly descended from him. Though she doesn't have much experience, she could bend that boulder and squash you with it before you could even lift your axe."

Sokka seemed to consider this. Aang could see the angry fire still roaring in his ice-blue eyes. Eyes that were so much like Katara's.

For a moment, Aang thought that Sokka was going to completely disregard what he had just said and go ahead and attack Cori anyway. Aang put a hand on his shoulder.

"I miss Katara, too," he offered softly. "When we get her back, she'll put Cori in her place. Trust me."

Sokka grinned at that. He lowered his axe. "Are there any shops on this Mustacho Island or whatever it is? I'm starving!"

Aang grinned. "I'll ask the girls. They seem to know their way around this place."

Meanwhile, Ming had been busy calming Cori, who had settled the boulder back on the ground. She smoothed her long dark hair, looking as perfect as she had at the banquet. Ming, on the other hand, seemed much less superficial, and was content to pull her straight black hair back from her face and tie it with a red ribbon.

"Sokka calls for a truce," said Aang with a small smile. "He promises not to slit your throat with his knife if you don't try to flatten him with massive rocks."

Cori still looked as if she were struggling not to hurl the boulder in Sokka's face. Ming glanced at her reproachfully. Cori sighed, and finally the violent rage faded from her eyes.

"It's a good thing his face is so handsome," she said. "Otherwise I would be all too keen to smash it. Dirty earthbenders indeed."

"Well, his handsome face demands food. Is there a market around here?" Aang posed his question at Ming.

"Yes, there's a small village several miles from here, and they have a marketplace."

Aang glanced around for Appa, and spotted the furry monster standing on his hind legs, ripping the green fronds from the tops of the trees. He pulled the whistle from under his shirt, put it to his lips, and blew. The ground trembled as the great hulking beast came down on all fours and ambled over to his master.

With Aang's help, Ming easily vaulted onto the huge animal and settled down on his wide, comfortable back. Cori wasn't so keen to ride a flying bison, but after Aang coaxed and then resorted to threats of leaving her to walk to the village alone, she willingly accepted his aid in climbing aboard.

Aang shouted to Sokka, and the young water tribe man sauntered over, taking his place beside Aang on Appa's head without making eye contact with the girls. Aang could tell that he was still sore about almost getting his butt kicked by a girl.

Appa landed with a thud in the middle of an almost miniscule village compared to what Aang had seen in the Earth Kingdom. Ming had not been joking when she had said, "small." The entire village was composed of about fifty houses made of wood, with thatched roofs. From the slight size of each of them, Aang guessed them to be no more than three or four rooms in size.

The marketplace consisted of about a dozen stalls, each made of rough, unglazed wood and roofed by tightly stretched animal skins. The scent of fresh meat cooking on a spit reached Aang's nose from the stall closest to him, and his mouth watered.

Before he could dismount and head towards the source of the delightful smell, an arrow whizzed past his head. More quickly followed suit as Sokka ducked beside Aang and attempted to bury himself in Appa's fur. Aang could hear screams of horror erupting from the girls beside him.

Fury coarsed through Aang like lava spouting to the top of a volcano. Not so much unlike the lava, his rage erupted, sending him spiraling into the air. The arrows marking his head turned a bright, blinding blue, and luminous light shot out of his eyes.

It was as if he had left his body, and was hurtling upwards through the air. As he torpedoed into the clouds, he looked down and saw his body floating a few feet above Appa's head. He could vaguely hear Sokka shouting his name, and the girls screaming hysterically behind him.

"Stop shooting!" he heard Sokka holler. "We come in peace! This is the Avatar! Aang!" Aang saw Sokka yank on the sleeve of his tunic.

His Avatar spirit began to calm down. He stopped his mad, uncontrollable rush into the sky, and began to drop downwards into his body. The color left his arrows, and the light given off by his furious body faded.

He opened his eyes and found himself floating above Appa once again. He heard Sokka sigh in relief that he had been reunited with his body, and he sank down into Appa's fur. The attack of the arrows had stop, and Aang looked down at the ground to see a small group of bare-chested warrior men circling the giant bison, their spears pointed toward the great animal and ready to pierce flesh should he make one false movement.

Aang stood up. He had a powerful headache, one of the side effects of triggering his Avatar spirit. He ignored it and held up his hands.

"I am the Avatar," he said as calmly as he could. "These are my friends. We do not intend to harm you."

A crowd of people had immerged from the wooden houses to watch the action, and at the word, "Avatar," a hush fell over the crowd. Aang didn't think they would have believed him if they had not just been blinded by the unearthly blue light.

The circle of warriors parted, and a woman stepped forward. She was an older woman, with crisp brown skin interrupted by an occasional wrinkle, with long black hair streaked with gray down to her knees. She was pleasantly plump, and her eyes were ghostly pale, so translucent that Aang wondered if she might be blind. The way she fixed her eyes on him quickly dissuaded that notion. Her eyes seeped into him, as if she were trying to see his soul, trying to determine if he was telling the truth.

Obviously she was a woman of some standing, because the people quickly stepped aside respectfully as she came forward. She walked with a slight limp, and Aang could see a long white scar on her favored leg, stretching from mid-thigh to ankle and about the width of a finger. He wondered briefly what had happened to leave such a harsh reminder.

The woman spoke, causing Aang to stop wondering and start listening. The language was the same as his own, though spoken with an accent so thick and foreign that he could barely understand. Fortunately, the two Princesses beside him seemed to know the language, and when he missed a word they were able to inform him in his own accent.

The woman claimed to be the spirit woman of the Mustafa people, and she welcomed them all, most especially the Avatar. She spoke of what an honor it was to be visited by the Avatar, and apologized for the hostility of the warriors. Apparently, they had been visited by a huge ship recently, and men dressed in red had stormed their village on Komodo dragons and seized a number of their young girls. When Aang heard this, his blood ran cold. He was sure that the woman was talking about Admiral Zhao.

Admiral Zhao had taken the Mustafa girls prisoner for his own pleasures and wishes. Aang was certain now that Zhao had captured Katara. His hands balled into fists as he pictured the young waterbender girl, and the horror of what was being done to her.

Sorry, short chapter. But I'll try to do a longer one next time. Please read and review!


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